Planning to visit someone at a MultiCare hospital? New COVID-19 restrictions in place
Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System on Monday announced new restrictions on visitors to its hospitals starting Tuesday (March 10).
These measures include limited entry points to control flow of visitors. Visitors will be questioned before entry with the following questions:
▪ Do you have a fever, cough, shortness of breath or symptoms of a common cold or flu?
▪ Have you traveled to China, Japan, South Korea, Iran or Italy within the past 14 days?
▪ Have you had contact with someone suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19?
If the answer is “yes” to any of the questions, the visitor will not be allowed to enter and recommended to follow up with their primary care provider or seek consultation via online virtual care.
Other visitor restrictions:
▪ No children under 14 years of age.
▪ Only one caregiver or support person will be allowed with each patient (or two for patients under 18).
▪ All waiting rooms, including emergency and surgical waiting rooms, will be limited to one caregiver or support person per patient (or two for patients under 18).
Additional restrictions will be in place for Birth Centers and NICUs.
Valet service will be suspended, “although a staff member will be available at hospital entrances to direct patients and visitors to parking locations,” the health system said in a statement.
MultiCare hospitals in the Puget Sound area include Auburn Medical Center, Covington Medical Center, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Allenmore and Tacoma General in Tacoma and Good Samaritan in Puyallup.
While MultiCare’s announcement lists the start of the new rules as Tuesday, at least one caller to The News Tribune reported the measures had already started Monday at MultiCare’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 5:15 AM.
