Study: Pandemic halts, delays 28 million elective surgeries

UW Medicine | Newsroom | May 19, 2020

Dr. Douglas E. Wood

Dr. Giana Davidson

The repercussions from COVID-19 are being felt across all segments of society, and now thousands of surgeons worldwide have assessed the impact to canceled surgeries.

The CovidSurg Collaborative projects that 28.4 million elective surgeries worldwide will be canceled or postponed in 2020, based on data from participating nations’ peak 12-week spans. (The timing of the spans differ among nations.) The overall cancellation rate is projected to be 72.3%; in other words, less than 30% of scheduled elective surgeries will take place.

Features Drs. Douglas Wood, The Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair and Giana Davidson, General Surgery Associate Professor. MORE >