Rising COVID-19 cases cause Jacksonville hospitals to issue restrictions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health reported more than 900 new COVID-19 cases in Northeast Florida Thursday. 18 of those were so sick, they were admitted to local hospitals.

“This is really our surge. We’re having our first surge right now and so our numbers are continually going up,” Action News Jax Medical Expert Dr. Michelle Aquino with Baptist said.

To promote social distancing and minimize exposure, Baptist Health and Ascension St. Vincent’s issued a restriction for visitors. Starting Friday, July 10, visitors are not allowed to see adult patients inside their hospitals.

There are a few exceptions. For Baptist Health’s four hospitals:

• Adult Inpatient Surgery
• One designated visitor will be permitted to wait until surgery is complete to receive word from the care team. Visitors will not be permitted to enter the inpatient unit.
• No adult inpatient visitation with very few exceptions:
• Labor & Delivery: One designated visitor per day. One spouse/partner, one visitor or one doula per patient, per day; no combinations at this time.
• Hospice: Two loved ones will be permitted.
• End-of-life: Two loved ones will be permitted. Care teams will arrange visitation on a case-by-case basis.

For Ascension St. Vincent’s three hospitals:

• Pediatric/Neonatal ICU patients: One parent or legal guardian
• Patients with disabilities or impairments or who are elderly: One designated visitor
• Women giving birth: One designated visitor (a doula is also allowed)
• Patients receiving end-of-life care: One designated visitor
• Patients requiring surgery or other medical procedures: One designated visitor
• Patients presenting to the Emergency Department: One designated visitor

Given the uptick of coronavirus cases, Memorial Hospitals is not adding new elective surgeries this week that are not time sensitive. A spokesperson said the hospital is not canceling existing appointments, but not scheduling any new ones.

Dr. Aquino said Baptist is diagnosing more asymptomatic carriers. These people test positive for the virus but may not experience symptoms. Therefore, they may spread the virus and not realize it.

“We just want to increase the safety in the hospital for all the patients and all the healthcare workers,” Dr. Aquino said.

Elective surgery, visitation changes Elective surgery, visitation changes

Cox Media Group