Carroll County Memorial Hospital has experienced the highest number of COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic, and officials say the cases continue to rise.

Due to the spike, CCMH has announce it will be scaling back on its visitor policies, effective Saturday, August 26.

Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Andy Horine says, “This change in policy is an unfortunate necessity. With increasing cases locally, our top priority is always the care of our patients and the safety of our staff and the community. We have a team constantly monitoring the situation and we hope to relax these policies again as soon as possible.”

The new visitor policies only allow visitors essential to our patients’ physical or emotional well-being into the facility. In addition, all visitors must meet the following criteria:

For impatient care:
· Visitors must be 18-years-old or older
· One designated visitor per patient, per day
· Visiting Hours are 3-6 p.m.
· Must use Main Entrance
· Visitor must be screened, temperature checked and be free of COVID-19 symptoms
· Visitor must wear a mask at all times, including patient rooms
· Isolation patients and patients with COVID-19 will NOT be allowed visitors
· Exceptions for end of life visitation is under the discretion of the charge nurse

For the Emergency Department:
· Adult visitors only (18 and older)
· One designated visitor per day
· Visitor will not be allowed to leave and reenter
· Visitor is expected to remain bedside unless asked to leave by staff
· Must use Main Entrance
· Visitor must be screened, temperature checked and be free of COVID-19 symptoms
· Visitor must wear a mask at all times, including bedside
· Patients with COVID-19 or COVID-19 symptoms will NOT be allowed visitors
· Exceptions for end of life visitation is under the discretion of the Emergency Department Staff

For Outpatient Care and Jefferson Medical Group:
· One dedicated parent/caregiver for pediatric or disabled patients who cannot be left alone or need assistance to move throughout the facility
· One dedicated caregiver/driver for outpatient surgery patients;
· Visitor must be screened, temperature checked and be free of COVID-19 symptoms
· Visitor must wear a mask at all times

CCMH Chief Executive Officer Scott Thoreson says, “We understand this policy is difficult for patients and visitors. At this point, we must minimize the risk of exposure to our patients, visitors and colleagues. Recently, our hospital has seen the highest number of COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic and many of the larger facilities are at capacity, making transfers for our sickest patients exceedingly more difficult. If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to get vaccinated. We are seeing vaccines certainly reduce the risk of severe disease requiring hospitalization.”

For additional information or questions, you can contact Carroll County Memorial Hospital by calling (660) 542-1695