Puget Sound Hospitals Restrict Visitors Due To Coronavirus

SEATTLE, WA — Aiming to prevent the novel coronavirus from infecting vulnerable patients, MultiCare became the latest health system to impose new restrictions for visitors at its Puget Sound-area hospitals, saying on Tuesday it will turn away young children and limit the number of guests.

No children under 14 will be allowed to visit any of MultiCare's six hospitals in the region, and only one caregiver or support person will be allowed in to visit an adult patient, MultiCare said on its website.

Anyone visiting a patient who might have COVID-19 has to check in at the nursing station for instructions, where the visitor will be given a mask. Only one visitor will be allowed to wait in a waiting room for each adult patient, according to MultiCare.

Don't miss the latest coronavirus updates from health and government officials in Washington. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters for what you need to know daily.

Similar policies have been put in place at other Seattle-area medical facilities. Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday announced new rules limiting visitors at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and Puget Sound VA Hospitals are barring children under 12.

Virginia Mason hospital in Seattle is also limiting visitors to one per patient.

At MultiCare, a new screening system will be in place at each hospital entrance, where staff members will stop visitors and ask if they have symptoms including a fever, cough, or shortness of breath; whether they've recently traveled to China, Japan, South Korea, Iran or Italy; and whether they have had contact with any possible COVID-19 patients.

If the visitors answer "yes" to any of the questions, they will not be allowed to enter, MultiCare said.

Similar restrictions will be imposed at MultiCare's birth centers and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, where children under 14 will not be allowed and only two visitors will be permitted per patient. At the NICU, only parents of babies will be allowed to enter.

The new policies affect MultiCare Allenmore Hospital, MultiCare Auburn Medical Center, MultiCare Covington Medical Center, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital.

Related coronavirus coverage:

• Before Coronavirus Shutdown, UW Students Pleaded: Close Campus
• Coronavirus Keeps Workers Home; Shops, Restaurants Feel The Pinch
• WA Blood Supply Drops To 'Emergency' Low Levels Due To COVID-19