Salem Hospital Limits Visitations Amid Coronavirus Spike

SALEM, MA — SalemHospital is once again restricting visitations amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

The hospital said that as of Wednesday hospitalized patients will be allowed only one visitor at a time and two visitors per day.

Emergency Department patients and those with an outpatient appointment will continue to be allowed one support person.

The hospital said the change is because of "COVID-19 infection rates rising."

Salem Hospital President Dr. David Roberts warned of the strain of any rise in virus cases on hospital capacity and staff when he pressed the Salem Board of Health to add extra mitigation efforts earlier this month.

"We're kind of overwhelmed in our current state," he told the Board of Health on Dec. 14. "We don't have the capacity to take care of the patients we have now.

"Anything we can do to increase the vaccination rates will help with overwhelming the hospitals. Another day of being overwhelmed is another day a nurse says: 'OK, I'm out.' ... We can't wait for another 30 percent increase in COVID cases and think: 'OK, what can we do?' By then, the battle may be lost."

The Salem Board of Health voted on Dec. 22 to reimpose the mask mandate for indoor public spaces and beginning next month a proof=of=vaccination-entry order for businesses such as bars, restaurants, gyms and other entertainment venues.

Salem Hospital's full visitation policy can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)