Former Assistant Health Secretary Admiral Brett Giroir told "America’s Newsroom" Wednesday that there is no reason for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to halt elective surgeries in the wake of the new omicron variant.

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BRETT GIROIR: I don’t see any reason for this. If you look at the CDC tracker there are only 2100 people hospitalized in the whole state of New York with Covid. They have 60,000 beds. The number of hospitalizations are going down. So, I don’t understand the rationale. Secondly, elective surgery is serious. These are people in chronic pain for back or knees; could be reconstructive surgery for children with deformities; could be reconstructive surgery after cancer. Even some type of heart surgery. So, this is not where we need to go. If we need to redistribute patients because that’s what New York should be helping with, but not canceling vital health procedures for people who might have been waiting months or a year for it because of the pandemic. We have to have compassion for these people, too. I dealt with that every day in a pediatric hospital and that’s where we need to point - not canceling the surgeries.

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Adm. Giroir: There is no reason New York governor should halt elective surgeries

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a state of emergency over the new omicron variant