Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties, Samaritan Health Services has enacted tighter visitor restrictions.
Under the new policy, which went into effect last week, visitors are not permitted at Samaritan-affiliated hospitals, including outpatient departments, at this time, with a few limited exceptions:
Pediatric patients may have one healthy adult visitor (age 18 or older) per day.
Labor and delivery patients will be permitted one healthy adult visitor throughout their hospital stay. Laboring mothers may have one additional healthy adult visitor during labor and delivery.
Patients at the end of life may have visitors.
Patients with disabilities have a right to support persons.
Visitors are required to sanitize their hands upon entry, wear a mask at all times in the facility, and abide by all other infection-prevention measures. Additional screening precautions and additional facility rules may apply.
In Samaritan’s outpatient facilities, such as providers’ clinics, physical rehabilitation and other clinical settings, patients are asked to come alone to their appointments. The following exceptions are allowed when necessary: nursing infants under 12 weeks old, minor outpatients, outpatients needing wheelchair transportation to an appointment and outpatients who cannot be left unattended.
All visitors must be free of symptoms of COVID-19 or other respiratory infections. Because some waiting areas may be too small to accommodate visitors, they may be asked to wait outside the facility.
For information about COVID-19, visit samhealth.org/Coronavirus.