(March 12, 2020) Nantucket Cottage Hospital has begun restricting visitation in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a release from the hospital Thursday evening:

– One visitor per patient for both inpatient and ambulatory care will be allowed. This includes all hospital, physician clinic and emergency department visits.

– Visitors may be screened for flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough or sore throat. Any visitor with obvious signs of illness will be asked to leave.

– No visitors under the age of 18 will be allowed during this time, since young people are potential infectors without necessarily being ill themselves.

– Care teams will make exceptions in specific circumstances such as: end-of-life care, two parents or guardians for each pediatric patient, two visitors for each labor and delivery patient, disruptive behavior patients

– The hospital is also discontinuing all public use of its conference rooms effective immediately until future notice, including events open to the public and community groups.

– The hospital cafeteria will be closed to the public and will serve employees only with ID badges.

All outpatient testing, scheduled procedures and routine care at the hospital will continue without interruption, president and CEO Gary Shaw said.

“While there have been no cases of COVID-19 infections on the island, we have an obligation to minimize the risk to our patients and to our staff. We feel it is vitally important to protect our patients and our workforce so that they can be ready and available to provide care to our community,” he said.

An updated coronavirus information page has been posted on the NCH website, linked here.

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