Vermont is allowing some elective health care procedures to resume as the state emerges from its COVID-19 shutdown, Gov. Phil Scott announced Monday.
Outpatient clinics and surgeries may resume if the providers and the patients comply with measures designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Elective surgeries that require a hospital stay are not yet allowed, the governor said at his weekly news conference.
The resumption of some medical care and other aspects of the state’s reopening is made possible by Vermont’s expanded program to test for new cases of the virus and try to stop its spread.
“As we find an outbreak, like a brush fire, we are able to put it out before an out-of-control forest fire erupts,” Scott said.
Separately Monday, more Vermont construction and manufacturing workers returned to their jobs after Scott loosened some restrictions.
Crews of as many as 10 people may now be on the job as long as they abide by safety measures. Those businesses may expand to full operation on May 11 if they comply with additional safety requirements, Scott said.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health on Monday said it will resume “time-sensitive, urgent elective surgeries and procedures” as well as ambulatory visits within the next 14 days.
Many patients whose procedures and appointments were postponed starting in late March because of the COVID-19 outbreak are now being rescheduled at hospitals in the Lebanon-based health-care system.
D-HH has launched a “clinical recovery command team” to help resume the operations that were disrupted by the pandemic, according to a news release.