Upstate University Hospital to shutter ORs, blaming NY vaccine mandate for staff shortage

Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse will temporarily close 22 of its 35 operating rooms starting Monday in anticipation of a growing staff shortage due to New York’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

The hospital had already postponed elective surgeries as a result of chronic staff shortages during the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, priority will be given to surgeries that are medically necessary, time sensitive or involve critical-care trauma cases, the hospital announced Friday. Those surgeries will be consolidated into the 13 open operating rooms.

Earlier in the day, the hospital warned employees who cannot prove that they’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19 by 5 p.m. Monday will not be allowed to work Tuesday.

According to Johns Hopkins:

An elective surgery does not always mean it is optional. It simply means that the surgery can be scheduled in advance. It may be a surgery you choose to have for a better quality of life, but not for a life-threatening condition. But in some cases it may be for a serious condition such as cancer. Examples of elective surgery include removing a mole or wart, and having kidney stones removed. It may also be done if other forms of treatment are not working.

You might really need that joint replacement or cardiac stent or pacemaker but it’s far more important that your OR nurse has her COVID shot.

The miniscule risk that a nurse with asymptomatic COVID under OR sterility protocols gives you COVID and you die from it is considerably more important than whatever your doctor thought you needed surgery for.

You are being denied surgery for your health.

NYS workers who are fired for not getting vaccinated won’t be eligible for unemployment insurance, governor announces

New York state workers who are fired for refusing to get vaccinated are not eligible for unemployment insurance, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Saturday – just two days before the deadline for workers to get the jab.

The governor made the ramifications clear during Saturday’s announcement of a contingency plan to address potential staffing shortages in hospitals and other health care facilities statewide.

Get the vaccine or starve.

Remember, they are doing this for your health, and if that means getting fired, losing your home, medical coverage, and being left destitute with no food, it’s for your own good.

He’s absolutely right on this.

I’ve had this one (at least the first four lines) with my wife countless times.

When I lived in Chicagoland, my redneck self was usually the only person with a knife so colleagues and coworkers would ask to borrow mine.

It got to the point where I started carrying a POS loaner knife just to lend to people who asked to borrow one to open boxes.

pic.twitter.com/arBPtBuCmY

— ONT WTF (@OntWtf) August 12, 2021

In the middle of a pandemic, in the Bronx where 1 in 5 don’t have enough to eat@NYPDnews @NYCSanitation trashed a business, destroying produce in a food desert

This family is just trying to run a small business, and sell affordable fruits & veggies.@NYCMayor beyond wrong pic.twitter.com/dC9c7YkNGt

— StreetVendorProject (@VendorPower) September 25, 2021

The vendor is clearly a beloved member of her community. Neighbors crowded around her, calling for the abuse to stop

Thousands of dollars worth of oranges, tomatoes, and other fruits trashed

Taken from an immigrant woman entrepreneur, already hard hit by the pandemic pic.twitter.com/fHWuDQYkSN

— StreetVendorProject (@VendorPower) September 25, 2021

The systemic abuse of our city’s micro-businesses and disregard for hunger is a travesty.

Our communities deserve care, support, and training. Thankful to the community members who donated to the vendor yesterday to help her get back on her feet.@NYCMayor do you condone this? pic.twitter.com/k8oc149xRV

— StreetVendorProject (@VendorPower) September 25, 2021

The news covered the story:

BRONX COMMUNITY OUTRAGED AFTER FRESH PRODUCE CONFISCATED FROM STREET VENDOR, THROWN AWAY

The video shows sanitation crews throwing box after box of fresh fruit and vegetables into a garbage truck from a stand on Pelham Parkway, with an angry crowd protesting the move.

Diana Hernandez Cruz, an immigrant and a new mother, has worked at the stand for five years.

“I’m here in the rain, I’m here in the snow,” she said. “I’ve been working to provide food but also to take care of my family.”

On Saturday, she was back at the corner with the food telling Eyewitness News what happened here on Thursday, when two police officers called the sanitation department to remove the items after she couldn’t provide a permit.

“This video shows a small portion of an unfortunate situation, where abandoned material needed to be disposed of for the safety of the community. The Department of Sanitation is committed to our mission of keeping streets and neighborhoods safe, clean, and healthy,” the New York City Department of Sanitation said.

Throwing away good food like that is a sin against God and man.

All because this woman was unable to show proof of a permit that is difficult and expensive to obtain because the street vendor permit office is as corrupt as the gun permit office.

Both of my grandfathers were in the food business.

Watching this is a knife through my heart.

The Waffen NYPD and the ordinary men of the sanitation department should be ashamed of themselves.

Biden: “That 25% minority can cause an awful lot of damage…The unvaccinated overcrowd our hospitals…The unvaccinated also put our economy at risk.”

Zero truth. Zero data. 100% rule by ransom.pic.twitter.com/WXSkTmEFbM

— Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) September 25, 2021

Hutus said the same about Tutsis.

Turks said the same about Armenians.

Hitler said the same about Jews.

Biden is saying that COVID spikes and the resulting lockdowns are the fault of a minority.

A US President is focusing national outrage on a minority of Americans.

This is evil.