By Kendra Sitton

Photo:  Telehealth is increasingly being used to provide patients access to physicians (CC by NC-ND)

May 12, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) -- Governor Gavin Newsom is lifting some hospital restrictions on elective surgeries, bringing parts of the healthcare system back online. COVID-19 has yet to overwhelm hospitals locally, but in preparation, only essential surgeries were conducted for the past two months. Other medical offices switched to telehealth options or shut down completely. For some patients, particularly in East County, health care has gotten harder to access.

In a survey of 1200 cancer patients and survivors, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) found half of them had care that was impacted by the virus. A quarter of those who were impacted had treatment that was delayed and 13% do not know when their care will be rescheduled.