With the omicron variant causing a record number of COVID cases in the Evansville area on nearly a daily basis, several hospitals and medical facilities in southern Indiana and western Kentucky are implementing a change to their visitation policy in an effort to keep patients safe.

The Community Patient Safety Coalition of Southwestern Indiana/Kentucky announced Friday they are reducing the number of visitors a patient can have to one per day, and only visitors 18 years of age or older will be allowed.

The Coalition says the change in policy is aimed at reducing the number of people at the various facilities at any given time in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus to not only patients but staff as well since many facilities are finding themselves under-staffed due to employees themselves catching the virus.

Get our free mobile app

The policy goes into effect today (January 17th, 2022) at the following facilities:

  • Daviess Community Hospital
  • DeaconessHealth System (Indiana & Kentucky)
  • Good Samaritan Hospital
  • Encompass Health Deaconess Rehabilitation
  • Select Specialty Hospital
  • Ascension St. Vincent Evansville
  • Ascension St. Vincent Warrick
  • Ascension St. Vincent Orthopedic Hospital
  • The Women’s Hospital

The Coalition went on to say the policy will remain in effect until they re-evaluate the COVID situation in the area which they plan to do in mid-February. If case numbers are on the decline at that time, they may increase the number of visitors patients are allowed to have. In the meantime, they say hospitals may make exceptions for "end-of-life visitation."

Since visitation hours vary by facility, they encourage you to check the hospital's website (links below) or call ahead for specific details.

Hospital Facility Websites

[Source: The Community Patient Safety Coalition of Southwestern Indiana/Kentucky Press Release]

Answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

Keep reading to discover answers to 25 common COVID-19 vaccine questions.

Here are some tips for self-care during the pandemic:

More From WGBFAM