CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield announced Saturday evening that no visitors will be allowed in hospitals for either health system in southwest Missouri beginning Monday, March 23, with few exceptions.
Those extraordinary measures come as officials race to stem the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new 2019 coronavirus, particularly within the health care system itself.
Hospitals across the United States are doing what they can to preserve protective equipment and keep hospital staff safe as they brace for a potential surge of critically ill patients from the coronavirus. On a national level, at Saturday's press briefing for the American Hospital Association, health care leaders said there is an urgent need for federal aid to go toward tools and resources.
According to a news release from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, some exceptions will be made for laboring mothers, pediatric and NICU patients, end-of-life situations and drivers for urgent procedures.
You can read more about CoxHealth's visitor guidelines by clicking here. And for the visitor guidelines from Mercy Springfield, you can click here.
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