As local cases of COVID-19 continue to stay low, CoxHealth is adjusting its policy for visiting the Mother and Baby Units.
A news release says effective immediately, patients on Labor and Delivery and Postpartum units may have two visitors per day.
One support person can remain with the patient 24/7 while they are in the hospital, and the second visitor may also be present during the baby’s birth, but will fall under the health system’s current visiting hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. after the mother transitions to postpartum status.
Those visitors must be the same two people for the duration of the hospitalization.
CoxHealth says this represents a shift from the former policy of one visitor for the duration of a patient’s stay, which had been in place since March, 2020 at the outset of the pandemic.
Chief Hospital Officer and Incident Commander for COVID-19 response at Cox Health, Karen Kramer, says it’s an exciting moment. “We have not enjoyed the restrictions over the past months, but believe they were necessary to help limit the potential spread of COVID-19. Having a baby is a significant milestone, and it makes us very glad to be at this moment where it is safe to have more visitors with these patients at this pivotal time.”