UPMC medical facilities have over the past two months made adjustments to visitation policies to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19.

As of May 12, hospital in-patients who don’t test positive for COVID-19 and emergency department patients are permitted to have one dedicated “patient support person,” to help with their care.

This person, according to UPMC, would be more than a visitor as “they are seen as essential to the patient’s care. They will be required to have their thermal body temperature taken and to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms. They also must wear a mask and a specially designated wristband.”

Previously, people who may have met these criteria were not allowed to move around the emergency department or enter the main hospital.

Any non-patient, including staff, vendors and visitors, who has shortness of breath, fever, cough, or has been in contact with someone who has COVID-19 or is being tested for it should not enter UPMC facilities.

At the beginning of April, UPMC made it mandatory for all UPMC hospital visitors to wear masks or face coverings when entering facilities. Non-cancer patients, special-approved visitors, and support people are encouraged to wear their own cloth or surgical facemask upon entry and throughout the facilities. All others, including people who do not have their own facemask, should wear a UPMC-provided mask.

For further information about specific restrictions for specific patients, visit the UPMC website.

— Donovan Harrell

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