Timmins and District Hospital is moving to tougher restrictions against visiting as of 11:00am Friday.
Infection control coordinator Jodie Russell says there will be no visitors allowed. There are specific exceptions.
“So the exception will be for patients in hospice or end of life care on approval of the manager,” Russell notes, “one visitor or support person for patients on our maternity department, one visitor and support person for pediatric patients, and one support person per outpatient appointment or in the ER.”
As the hospital is trying to prevent COVID-19 from showing up inside the building, a looser control on visitors didn’t wasn’t as effective as hoped.
“We were still seeing a lot of visitor traffic coming to the hospital, which prompted us to move to a more restrictive pattern,” says Russell.
TADH has also been trying to reduce elective procedures and non-urgent cases, to create capacity should the coronavirus arrive in the city.