Frigid temperatures sweeping through the U.S. are prompting hospitals and clinics to pare services, including elective surgeries.
A polar vortex — a swell of cold air and low pressure that typically swirls above the North and South Poles — descended from Siberia into the northern U.S. on Jan. 18, according to CBS News. The Northern Plains, Central Plains, Rockies, Midwest and Deep South were hit with freezing wind chills over the following days.
Several health systems in the South are pausing elective surgeries and closing outpatient sites, including Lake Charles Memorial Health System in Louisiana and hospitals in Beaumont, Texas, which is under a blizzard warning the morning of Jan. 21.
In Charleston, S.C., Roper St. Francis Healthcare and the Medical University of South Carolina's clinics are closing the evening of Jan. 21, according to NBC affiliate WCBD. The emergency departments at Roper St. Francis' four hospitals and its freestanding EDs will remain open, and "surgical procedures will be restricted to urgent and emergent," the system said.
WVU Medicine's Princeton (W.Va.) Community Hospital told WVVA that many appointments, which were postponed due to winter storms, have not been rescheduled yet as patients wait for the roads to clear.
Most of the healthcare organizations said they plan to reopen Thursday, Jan. 23.