Rising COVID-19 cases means fewer visitors at this local hospital
Due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Georgetown and Horry counties, Tidelands Health announced Thursday morning that it is tightening its visitation policies for certain patients, permitting fewer people to visit patients than before.
In a news release, Tidelands Health said it was temporarily halting all visits to patients in its critical care units at both Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital and Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital.
In addition, patients who are not COVID-19 positive and who are not in the critical care unit will now only be allowed one visitor per day, a change from a previous policy of those patients being allowed one visitor at a time, but multiple visitors in a day.
As before, patients who are in isolation due to being positive for COVID-19 are not allowed any visitors.
Patients in the hospitals’ emergency department “may be accompanied by a support partner,” the release said, after that person has been assessed and deemed negative for COVID-19.
The hospitals can make exceptions for visitors if a patient who is COVID-19 positive is nearing the end of their life, the release noted.
“We will continue to assess COVID-19 spread in our community and adjust our hospital visitation policy as needed to protect our patients, staff and community members,” said Dr. Gerald Harmon, vice president of medical affairs at Tidelands Health in the release.
The change at Tidelands Health facilities comes as coronavirus cases have spiked along the Grand Strand. Two weeks ago, Tidelands Health warned of a “dramatic spike” in hospitalizations due to rising coronavirus cases.
According to data from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, Horry County has seen 808 COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths in the last two weeks. Over the same period of time, Georgetown County has had 209 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths, DHEC reported.
Visitation policies at other hospitals
The changes at Tidelands put its hospitals in alignment with other area hospitals. Many hospitals in the area first changed their visitation policies in the spring when cases of COVID-19 first began to emerge. Recently, state health officials have warned of a fall surge in cases.
Allyson Floyd, a spokesperson for Conway Medical Center, said Thursday morning that its hospitals also only allow one visitor per day for non-COVID-19 patients. That policy has been in place since August 13. That means a patient could have one visitor on one day, and a different visitor the next day, Floyd said.
Conway Medical Center hospitals also bar visitors from seeing patients who are COVID-19 positive, Floyd said. In a situation where a COVID-19 patient is nearing the end of their life, Floyd said, the person’s family members can arrange a 30-minute visit with the person.
At McLeod Health hospitals, only one person is permitted to visit a non-COVID-19 patient throughout the person’s entire stay at the hospital, according to the hospital’s website. No visitors are permitted to see COVID-19 patients. If a patient is nearing the end of their life, an attending physician or supervising nurse can permit more than one visitor to visit a patient.
Similarly, at Grand Strand Health hospitals, one person is allowed to visit a non-COVID-19 patient throughout the person’s hospital stay. Patients positive for COVID-19 are not allowed visitors.
However, “we welcome loved ones to visit from our first floor windows when possible or communicate via virtual methods as well,” said Grand Strand Health spokesperson Katie Maclay in an email Thursday.
All four hospital systems require visitors to wear masks while visiting, and some screen visitors for COVID-19 before entering the hospital. Some hospitals also only allow visitors with proper ID over the age of 18 to visit as well.
If you plan to visit someone in the hospital, review the visitation policies for each hospital system first: Tidelands Health, Conway Medical Center, McLeod Health and Grand Strand Health.