COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continuing to decline across province, one of Hamilton’s hospital agencies is beginning a “cautious” ramp-up of its non-emergency surgeries.During the Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) town hall for staff on Thursday, EVP and chief operating officer Sharon Pierson said the hospital is hoping to achieve about 70 per cent in surgical activity by next week following directions from the province.“The first direction was that hospitals could proceed with activity related to inpatient care and then this past week could increase cautiously to include some surgical activity that would require resources such as bed,” said Pierson.