On April 10, 2020, noting “the rapidly increasing case count of COVID-19 in Mississippi and the limited supply of healthcare equipment and PPE,” Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves issued Executive Order 1470 requiring all licensed health care professionals and health care facilities to immediately delay “all non-essential adult elective surgeries and medical procedures” until April 27, 2020. The Executive Order follows the previously reported March 19, 2020 directive by the Mississippi Department of Health that all “elective surgical and diagnostic procedures” be postponed until the COVID-19 spread has diminished. The Executive Order provides added clarity on surgeries and medical procedures that are deemed “non-essential” and “elective,” defining them as surgeries and procedures that “are not immediately medically necessary to correct a serious medical condition of, or to preserve the life of, a patient who without the immediate performance of the surgery or procedure would be at risk for serious adverse medical consequences or death, as determined by the patient’s physician.” Importantly, the Executive Order does not apply to any procedure that, “if performed in accordance with the commonly accepted standard of clinical practice, would not have the potential to deplete the hospital capacity, medical equipment or PPE needed to cope with the COVID-19 disaster.”
