Rural hospital's maternity ward to close because too few staff vaccinated

Several news sources have reported out of Lowville, New York, in the past few days, that the hospital there will close its maternity ward and cease to deliver babies because too few nurses and staff are getting the coronavirus vaccine.  Here's a link to the story from the Washington Post, and here's a link to a story by Penn Live.  

An excerpt from the Washington Post story follows:

At least six unvaccinated maternity staffers at Lewis County General Hospital have resigned in recent days, and seven others remain undecided on whether to get vaccinated, Gerald Cayer, chief executive officer of the Lewis County Health System, said at a Friday news conference. The staff shortage will result in the hospital being “unable to safely staff” the maternity department beginning Sept. 25, he said.

“The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies at Lewis County General Hospital,” Cayer said. “It is my hope that the [New York State] Department of Health will work with us in pausing the service rather than closing the maternity department.”

Cayer said 165 hospital staffers, about 27 percent of the workforce, remain unvaccinated. Seventy-three percent of those unvaccinated staffers provide clinical services at the hospital.

The fragility of rural labor and delivery services at rural hospitals is not a new phenomenon, and it's been covered here on Legal Ruralism.   The issue attracted a lot of attention back in 2017, less more recently.