SAN ANTONIO — With over 1,400 hundred coronavirus patients in local San Antonio hospitals, space is limited.
“We as a community were able to get things under control, but we’re now in the middle of a worse surge,” Elizabeth Allen with University Health Systems said.
Allen says due to a record number of hospitalizations they’ll be tightening visitor restrictions similar to what they did this past summer.
“We hoped we wouldn’t have to do this again, but we were worried we would see more infections in the fall and then over the holiday has soared,” Allen said.
University Health says effective now only individuals deemed necessary to the patient’s care will be allowed to visit.
Visitors deemed necessary to a patient’s care include, 1-2 parents are guardians for pediatric patients, 1 support person for labor and delivery patients, 1 support person for patients with disabilities, 2 support people for critically ill patients who may be at the end of life, and a goodbye visit from a military member about to be deployed.
“We know that having a loved one there is really helpful for patients so that’s why we have may the allowances we have to balance that with the current pandemic going through our community,” Allen said.
A tough decision Allen says needed to be made. Se says right now there’s no word on how long this could last, but they’ll continue to look at the data and make the safest decision for everyone inside.
“If we can get this pandemic under control, we can start opening things back up again,” Allen said.