Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Temporary Visitor Restrictions

• All visitors should be free of illness or symptoms, and at least 18 years old.
• Visitors should anticipate being screened for symptoms of illness.
  
• Visitors should not remove any supplies or equipment from Marshfield Clinic Health System.
• Visitors should limit the personal items they bring into the facility. This will reduce the number of unwanted germs that will go home with the visitor.
• Visitors should plan to stay in the patient's room for the duration of the visit. They should not be in communal spaces, like lobbies, the cafeteria or wandering in hallways. 
• Visitors must wash hands or use hand sanitizer every time they enter or exit a patient room or exam room.
• At this time, all patients and visitors are required to wear a mask in Health System facilities. 
  

Children (those under the age of 18) are not able to visit at Health System locations while these restrictions are in place. If you will be attending a medical appointment at a clinic or have an exception where you may be visiting a patient in the hospital, please arrange to have your child cared for outside of the Health System.

To help limit the number of people in our buildings, we ask that flowers, food or other items not be delivered to patients in the hospital. 

We understand and respect the importance of the relationships patients have with their loved ones. As such, we encourage you to stay connected virtually via phone, tablet or computer. You may bring a personal device to your appointment or hospital stay to remain connected with family or caregivers.

If your provider is comfortable, at the conclusion of the appointment or during a key component of the hospital stay, you may use the device to make a phone call to another person that you wish to hear and be involved with the plan of care for your appointment or hospital stay. While you may use your device to connect with another person who can listen in and ask questions during your time with the provider, you should not use the device to record or take video. It is only used to stay connected with others in your personal life and to share your care plan with them.  

In general, no visitors are allowed for patients who have COVID-19 due to concerns about transmitting COVID-However, there are unique situations where visitors and care partners are allowed for patients with COVID-These unique circumstances include:

• Patients who are at end of life
• Patients who need a caregiver for care delivery
  
• Pediatric patients
• Obstetric patients

If a patient or their loved ones have questions about whether a visitor would be allowed for a patient who is positive COVID-19, please speak with the patient’s nurse. Additional visitor guidelines may also apply in these circumstances. A patient’s loved ones have an important role in their health and health care. For this reason, when in-person visits are not possible, we will help you connect with your loved one over the phone or virtually.

Currently, our visitor restrictions do not have any additional accommodations for visitors whom have had COVID-19 or the vaccine. Both natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity are still being carefully studied to determine how long someone is truly protected. Related to this, the CDC has not released any additional information in regards to their recommendations for people who have had the vaccine or have had COVID-19. The CDC recommends to continue wearing masks and social distancing despite having COVID-19 or receiving the vaccination. Although we suspect some level of protection or “immunity” develops from having COVID-19 or the vaccination, both could vary greatly. We will closely monitor for any updates released from the CDC and will update our visitor policy accordingly.  

Yes, the CDC has not changed their recommendations for masking and social distancing regardless if someone has received the vaccine. More information is needed to understand the extent of the vaccine protectiveness in the real world before the CDC will change their recommendation. In addition, other factors such as how many people receive the vaccine and how the virus continues to spread among communities will play an important role in making any changes.

The same applies to people who have had COVID-19 itself. The protection an individual may gain from having the infection could vary from person to person and therefore experts are working to learn more about natural immunity.