Las Cruces hospital clarifies that doctors will not perform elective surgeries under restrictions; doctor recommends Vitamin D

(Editor's note: This article has been corrected to clarify the remarks of hospital.)

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Three Crosses Regional Hospital in Las Cruces will not perform elective surgeries under the state's new restrictions, a doctor has clarified.

The hospital, which just opened, will only hold "urgent and emergent surgical cases that cannot wait for the moratorium on elective surgeries," clarified Dr. Don Marketto, a board certified anesthesiologist who works at the hospital.

On Friday, hospitals across the state of New Mexico scrambled to reschedule surgeries after the governor's public health order delayed non-essential procedures.

"We have to get it right," said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday, calling the number of hospitalizations "very frightening."

Dr. Marketto later told ABC-7 that he misspoke in a Friday interview by stating that the hospital could perform elective surgeries because the hospital does not have Covid patients on ventilators.

He encouraged Las Cruces residents to prioritize preventative care during the Covid-19 crisis.

"We understand the governor doing this, but unfortunately there are a lot of (illnesses) that can have a delay in diagnosis," he said. "We wish there could be a way that we could modify this."

He also recommends that they up their Vitamin D intake.

"This virus has been really scary," Dr. Marketto said. "Really, the most important thing you can do is to increase your vitamin D levels."

According to this study from The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Vitamin D reduces risk of ICU admission by 97 percent.

Another study found that a Vitamin D deficiency quadrupled the death rate of Covid-19 patients.

More than 100 scientists, doctors and "leading authorities" also signed a letter calling for increased Vitamin D use to combat Covid-19.

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends increasing Vitamin D intake.

"If you're deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection,” said Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in September.

He told Jennifer Garner, “I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements.”