CLEVELAND — Cleveland Clinic has updated their visitor guidelines to reflect ongoing precautions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Visitors will now have their temperature taken upon arrival to check for fevers, a symptom of the virus. The method will vary depending on the location, as some will use no-contact, hand-held thermal scanners while others will use thermal imaging as guests walk through.
While patients are strongly recommended to wear face coverings, visitors will be required to wear them pending any "health or behavioral condition that prevents them from wearing one."
Guests to that do not bring their own mask will be provided one upon entrance.
"Adult patients who are COVID-19 negative or asymptomatic may choose one individual to be their designated visitor," their website states of all inpatient hospital locations in Ohio and Florida. The designated visitor will be permitted entrance once per day for the duration of the patient's stay within the hospital.
Pediatric inpatients and outpatients who are COVID-19 negative or asymptomatic will be permitted two parents or guardians per day of their hospital day.
The additional following settings have been put in place for inpatient situations, with exceptions to those who are COVID-19 positive or "under investigation" for COVID-19. Emergency patients will be allowed one visitor outside their room during their stay. Those with a life-changing diagnosis will be permitted one visitor during their hospital stay. Pediatric patients will be granted one parent or guardian each day for the duration of their stay. Those in labor will be allowed one visitor during labor. One person will be allowed to pick up patients being discharged from the hospital. And two parents or guardians will be allowed for end-of-life circumstances for pediatric patients, while one visitor will be allowed for adults.
All emergency room locations in Ohio and Florida will allow one designate visitor for COVID-19 negative and asymptomatic patients during a patient's emergency room stay. Though the visitor may not leave and later re-enter the room.
Further updates can be found on the Clinic's website under the 'Visitor Guidelines' tab of the main Coronavirus (COVID-19) Menu.
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