Increased patient visit restrictions are in place at Newman Regional Health due to coronavirus activity.
The hospital now has five COVID-19 patients receiving inpatient care and positive tests have doubled over the past two weeks from 15 to 31. Chief Executive Officer Bob Wright says the inpatient increase has been gradual.
This officially puts the hospital in the Tier 2 restriction phase, meaning only one designated person can be with patients for childbirth, surgeries and discharge. Two designated people can be with pediatric patients or patients in critical care settings, end-of-life situations or acute or chronic cognitive impairment. Visitors will be chosen by patients, patient decision-makers or hospital staff. Employees will escort visitors to patients and out of the facility. Visits by COVID-positive or symptomatic patients are not allowed except for end-of-life situations. Visitors must wear masks at all times in their visits. If COVID inpatient numbers go below three patients and positive tests decrease, the hospital could relax those restrictions as soon as next week.
On KVOE’s Newsmaker 2 segment Thursday, Wright discussed the effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody treatments that have been available since November. He says they have been a good option for eligible patients.
Even though inpatient numbers and positive tests are on the rise this week, Wright says they were at much lower levels than they had been in November — when inpatient numbers had been in the mid-teens and up to 100 people were getting tested daily. Wright also says average length of stay is holding steady at around 6.5 days per patient, but that number may be low in some cases because the Kansas Department of Health and Environment can say a patient is no longer positive but they could have aftereffects needing more treatment.
