Massachusetts General Hospital on Wednesday updated its visitation policy to limit the number of people on its campuses at any time and to minimize the number of people patients and staff members come into contact with each day as COVID-19 continue to rise.
Patients who are not being treated in “enhanced respiratory isolation” are allowed to have one COVID-19 asymptomatic visitor each day between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m., though patients receiving end-of-life care are allowed two visitors.
MGH “strongly” recommends that visits last no longer than two hours. No visitors are allowed in the emergency department or ambulatory practices.
Visitor waiting rooms and lounges will be closed, and anyone waiting to pick up a patient or visit a patient must wait outside, the hospital said.
The scope of possible visitors is split into “essential visitors” and “non-essential visitors.” The essential category includes “birth partners, parents of patients who are under the age of 18 years old, attorneys of patients and companions for patients with intellectual and/or physical disabilities, and visitors to patients at the end-of-life,” law enforcement and emergency services personnel, and hospital contractors.
All others are considered “non-essential.”
Upon arrival at MGH, a visitor will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and recent travel to states that are subject to Massachusetts’ travel order.
Any non-essential visitor who traveled in the previous 14 days to any state other than Hawaii (the only one Massachusetts does not consider high-risk) and did not obtain a negative COVID-19 test within three days of returning will not be allowed to proceed into the hospital, MGH said.
All visitors must wear a mask while at MGH, must wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after visiting a patient, and must immediately leave the hospital after the visit.
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