Will Stone writes in NPR News that most Americans are getting sicker now because Omicron pushed back everything from heart surgeries to cancer care. “Instead, it’s the delays and disruptions in medical care — a consequence of overcrowded and short-staffed hospitals — that are leading to, at times, life-threatening complications.”

It can be just heartbreaking. She had been scheduled for a cardiac bypass, a procedure done to improve blood flow when there’s an obstructed or partially blocked artery, but that surgery had been canceled.

– Dr. Matt Beecroft, Seattle emergency department (Source: NPR News)

Will Stone adds “There’s no way to quantify how many Americans are now suffering serious, if not irreversible, harm to their health because hospitals are buckling under the weight of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. But doctors say the consequences are far-reaching, given how many procedures have been postponed.”

Dr. Patricia Turner, executive director of the American College of Surgeons, told NPR News “The impact on surgery is incredibly broad. It’s going to be felt for a long time.”

• Americans get sicker as omicron stalls everything from heart surgeries to cancer care

When Covid pandemic begin two yeas ago, most “elective” surgeries were halted and gave priority only to emergency cases.

Dr Turner told NPR News that elective surgeries are still essential because “It may not need to happen today, but scheduling one’s cancer operation for this week is very different than having it put off for a month.”

According to the article, this caused backlog of cases and some patients have already either developed serious complications while waiting out the surge.

Some hospitals have reportedly restarted elective surgeries, while others are still too overwhelmed to do so because of waiting backlog of cases.

“Most facilities have lists of hundreds of people who have had procedures or non-urgent care delayed,” Dr. Tammy Lundstrom senior vice president and chief medical officer for Trinity Health, which has hospitals in 25 states, told to NPR News.