As cases of COVID-19 continue to climb in the community and hospitalizations grow, Tanner Health System has adopted a new visitation policy to keep patients, staff and area residents safe.
Beginning Aug. 6, each hospitalized Tanner patient may have one visitor at a time, unless the patient has been admitted for COVID-19 or is suspected of having COVID-19. COVID-19 patients and suspected COVID-19 patients will be placed in isolation and no visitation will be allowed.
In addition, all visitors must be age 17 or older, be screened as they enter the hospital — including a brief questionnaire and temperature check — and each visitor must remain within the room of the patient they’re visiting. Visitors may only visit one patient per trip, and must be the patient’s immediate family member, partner or caregiver.
Emergency department patients may have one visitor at a time, either in the exam room or waiting room. Labor and delivery patients may have one visitor for the duration of labor, and NICU babies may have one visitor at a time who must be one of the two people with assigned baby bracelets. Pediatric patients may have one adult visitor in their rooms at a time.
Those undergoing outpatient surgical procedures or other clinical exams — such as diagnostic imaging scans — may have one visitor in the waiting room or patient room for the day of the procedure.
Exceptions to the policy may be made on compassionate reasons on a case-by-case basis.
Other visitation policies are continuing, such as using hand sanitizer or washing hands when entering and leaving a patient’s room, wearing a mask and social distancing for the duration of the visit and abiding by the care team’s discretion on whether a patient’s condition permits visitation.
The health system initially adopted a more stringent visitation policy last year as the COVID-19 pandemic reached the region, but as cases and hospitalizations declined in May 2021, Tanner began to allow more visitors for admitted patients.
However, hospitalizations and emergency department visits have surged in recent weeks. The health system has gone from a recent low of three COVID-19 patients in all five of its hospitals in early July to more than 60 this week. The rate of patients testing positive also continues to grow, now at more than 17%, exceeding Georgia’s state average of just more than 12%.
“These measures are intended to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for staff, who we need to keep healthy so they can continue to care for patients,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner. “They’re intended to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 to our patients who are already recovering from other illnesses. And it’s intended to reduce the risk of visitors being exposed to COVID-19 and spreading the virus further in our communities. All of these measures are meant to protect health and save lives.”
Along with limiting exposure to hospitalized patients, Tanner is also encouraging members of the community to get vaccinated. Georgia and Alabama significantly lag the rest of the nation in fully vaccinated residents, contributing to the spread of COVID-19 in communities throughout the region.
More information on Tanner’s visitor policies
can be found here.