Rising COVID cases prompt Columbus hospital to again restrict visitors. Read the details
A local surge in COVID-19 cases has prompted Piedmont Columbus Regional to restrict visitors at its midtown and northside hospitals.
As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, a policy of allowing no visitors took effect, with a few specific exceptions.
The aim is “to help cut down on the community spread” of the novel coronavirus and to protect patients, workers and the community at large, said Jessica Word Roberts, Piedmont’s senior communications specialist.
“This is what we did at the beginning of the pandemic,” she said. With infection rates spiking again, in the Columbus area, administrators decided the restrictions should resume.
Exceptions will be made in these circumstances:
- Pediatric patients, meaning those younger than 18, will be allowed to have one visitor each day, but it must be the same person.
- Patients in labor and delivery also will be allowed to have the same designated visitor each day.
- One parent daily may visit an infant in neonatal intensive care.
- Patients in rehabilitation at risk of falls along with “altered mental status and high impulsivity” may have one visitor daily.
- Patients at the John B. Amos Cancer Center may have one essential visitor each day.
For patients in end-of-life care or “other special situations,” an administrator on call must decide who’s allowed to visit.
Anyone 12 or younger is prohibited, and anyone 70 or older is discouraged from entering the hospital, because of the risk of complications from contracting the virus.
Visitors who are allowed to enter must have their temperatures checked and undergo a health screening, after which they’ll be given a sticker showing their temperature, the date and their destination within the facility, the policy states.
Everyone in the building, including visitors, contractors and staff, must wear a face mask.
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 1:00 PM.