St. Charles Hospital in Bend, where Deschutes County’s only known coronavirus patient is being treated, announced Wednesday that it is barring all “non-essential visitors.”

It said family members of patients, if not sick, can go to their loved ones’ bedsides, but it urged them to consider postponing their visits. And it said the policy applies to its hospitals in Madras, Redmond and Prineville as well.

“This message is very simple: Do not go to a St. Charles hospital if you are not a patient with a reason to be there,” St. Charles chief executive Joe Sluka wrote in a message to the community. “This includes vendors, delivery services, business partners and other non-essential visitors.”

Other hospitals in Oregon have not issued such warnings.

But hospitals elsewhere have.

The University of Washington hospital system severely limited visitors beginning Wednesday, including barring visits to adult patients except in limited cases such as those receiving end-of-life care.

Earlier this week, Rhode Island’s two largest healthcare systems established a no-visitor policy at all their hospitals, according to multiple Rhode Island news outlets. They no longer allow visitors for adult inpatients and limit how many visitors can be with patients in the emergency room, birthing suites and neonatal units.

Oregon public health officials announced Wednesday that four additional Oregon residents, including the one being treated at the Bend hospital, tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the state’s total known cases to 19.

-- Betsy Hammond; betsyhammond@oregonian.com; @OregonianPol

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