Practice Reopening What considerations should we use to guide us to determine our readiness to resume elective surgery? There should be a sustained reduction in the rate of new COVID-19 cases in the relevant geographic area for at least 14 days, and the facility shall have appropriate number of intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU beds for your patients if needed, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and trained staff to treat all non-elective patients without resorting to a crisis standard of care. Any resumption of elective surgery should be authorized by the appropriate municipal, county and state health authorities. Facilities in the state are safely able to treat all patients requiring hospitalization without resorting to crisis standards of care. The facility should have numbers of trained and educated staff appropriate to the planned surgical procedures, patient population and facility resources. Given the known evidence supporting health care worker fatigue and the impact of stress, the facility should be able to perform planned procedures without compromising patient safety or staff safety and well-being. Resources Joint Statement: Roadmap for Resuming Elective Surgery After COVID-19 Pandemic ACS: Local Resumption of Elective Surgery Guidance CDC: Healthcare Respiratory Protection Resources The ASA and APSF Joint Statement on Perioperative Testing for the COVID-19 Virus Safe Reintroduction of Cardiovascular Procedures and Diagnostic Tests During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Guidance From North American Societies News & Knowledge All Curi recommendations are based on current CDC criteria at the time of publication. CDC guidance for SARS-CoV-2 infection may, or may not, be adopted by state and local health departments to respond to rapidly changing local circumstances. Providers should always check with their local health department to see if the CDC’s guidance on any given topic has been modified (particularly if more restrictive) from the CDC’s recommended guidelines. Follow this link https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/healthdirectories/index.html for contact information to your state/local health department. If local recommendations vary from those of the CDC, and you are unsure what recommendations to follow, then it is safer to follow the more restrictive guidelines/recommendations.