Beaufort hospital further restricts visitors to help prevent spread of coronavirus
Beaufort Memorial Hospital has further restricted visitor access to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Effective Saturday, no visitors will be allowed in the hospital except for the labor and delivery and pediatric units. Patients in those units will be allowed one visitor each.
Other patients who might need assistance or end-of-life situations will be evaluated on a case by case basis, the hospital said.
“Our number one priority is the protection of our patients and staff, and we also need to do our part to protect the larger community,” Beaufort Memorial President and CEO Russell Baxley said in a statement.
The announcement comes after Gov. Henry McMaster requested Thursday that hospitals only allow visits to patients near death in an effort to slow the spread and conserve supplies.
Elective surgeries scheduled at the hospital and outpatient surgery center have been canceled, hospital spokeswoman Courtney McDermott said. The hospital will continue surgeries in urgent and emergency cases.
Beaufort Memorial’s hospital and outpatient waiting rooms will close to visitors starting Monday. Visitors will be asked to wait in their cars and will be notified when patients are finished, the hospital said.
Visitor hours at the hospital ended at 5 p.m. Friday. Online check-in to the emergency center was suspended and patients needing emergency care asked to call 911 or drive to the closest emergency room.
Patients to the hospital’s Express Care clinics in Beaufort and Bluffton Express Care locations will check in and return to their cars and wait to be seen. No visitors will be allowed in the clinics.
The hospital has also instituted free video consultations for people who have COVID-19 symptoms. Anyone suspected of having coronavirus will be directed to an Express Care location for more screening.
People who fell they might have symptoms should call their doctor’s office to answer questions and receive instructions before showing up in person, the hospital said.
People entering the hospital will first have their temperatures taken. If the temperature is 99.5 or higher, the person will be asked to call their primary care doctor first of use a video consultation.
Four Beaufort Memorial employees quarantined last week tested negative for the virus. A Marine stationed in Beaufort tested positive for coronavirus at the hospital Tuesday.
This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 9:32 AM.
