As coronavirus pandemic eases, so do some visitor restrictions at Triangle hospitals
Visiting someone at a hospital in the Triangle is becoming a little easier as the coronavirus pandemic shows signs of waning.
Duke Health on Wednesday became the latest hospital system to ease restrictions on visitors to its three hospitals in Durham and Raleigh.
Adults hospitalized for anything other than COVID-19 can now designate two people age 18 or older to visit during their hospital stay, and both visitors may be in the patient’s room at the same time. Since last June, Duke has limited visitors to one per patient per stay to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
Duke said it was making the change because of the falling number of new coronavirus cases in the area and the increasing number of people vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We recognize that the care and support of loved ones is an integral part of our patients’ recovery and well-being,” Dr. Thomas Owens, senior vice president of Duke University Health System, said in a written statement. “We are grateful for the community’s understanding over the past year as we’ve worked to balance these important patient interests with the public health priority to reduce the spread of COVID.”
Some other hospitals had already eased rules for visitors.
On March 24, WakeMed began allowing non-COVID-19 hospital patients to have up to four adult visitors per day, though only two in the room at a time. Five days later, UNC Rex Hospital began allowing patients to designate up to four visitors during their stay, though only two can visit on a given day and only one is allowed at a time. (The rules vary at other UNC hospitals.)
Visiting a hospital is still a long way from what it used to be. No visitors under 18 are allowed at Triangle hospitals, and COVID-19 patients or those suspected of being infected with the coronavirus are still not allowed any visitors, except in “end of life” situations.
All visitors must wear masks and be screened when they arrive for symptoms of COVID-19 or other illnesses such as the flu. Their movements around the hospital may be more restricted than before as well.
In late March 2020, when the coronavirus outbreak was just getting started in North Carolina, Duke, UNC and WakeMed jointly announced strict no-visitor polices that meant most patients could not see any family or friends while they were in the hospital. Administrators feared being overrun with COVID-19 patients, as hospitals had been in China, Italy and New York in the weeks before.
As Triangle hospitals became more confident in their ability to screen people and manage the coronavirus, they began to allow limited visitors by early July. Until this week, Duke’s visitor policy had not changed since then.
Data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services shows why hospitals still limit visitation. So far this month, 1,732 new coronavirus cases have been reported to the state each day on average. That’s down from a peak of more than 6,400 cases a day in January but up from an average of 1,676 per day in March.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has ticked up this month as well, from less than 1,000 at the end of March to 1,168 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 35.8% of adults in North Carolina are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with thousands more joining them each day.
Visitor policies may vary from hospital to hospital within each system and between hospitals, outpatient clinics, emergency departments and children’s wards. For details about visitor policies, go to:
▪ Duke Health: www.dukehealth.org/VisitorRestrictions
▪ WakeMed: www.wakemed.org/visitor-information
▪ UNC Health: www.unchealthcare.org/coronavirus/unc-health-visitor-restrictions/
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 3:58 PM with the headline "As coronavirus pandemic eases, so do some visitor restrictions at Triangle hospitals."
