UMass Memorial further limits visitor policy as COVID cases rise

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center share a campus off Belmont and Plantation streets in Worcester.

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By Sloane M. Perron

On Tuesday, UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester instituted new visitor policies in response to rising COVID case numbers and the Omicron variant.

According to the new visitor policy, adult patients will only be allowed one designated visitor. This visitor must be the same individual throughout the course of the patient’s hospitalization, meaning other visitors for the same patient will not be permitted. The previous policy had allowed two visitors per patient.

Pediatric patients are allowed two designated visitors, but they also must remain the same two people during the course of the child’s hospital stay.

The visitor policy for maternity patients will permit one designated support person and one doula.

All visitors must undergo COVID screening before being allowed to enter the hospital and hospital issued face masks will be distributed to visitors. Vaccination cards and negative tests aren't required for visitors.

Visitors will also not be allowed to eat or drink in the patient’s rooms and must use the cafeteria instead.

Thanksgiving get-togethers combined with more indoor events due to colder weather have fueled higher case numbers as people come in close contact with each other, said Deb Spano, media and public relations manager at UMass Medical Center.

“We are doing everything we can to keep visitors in the hospitals,” Spano said during an interview.

Nursing staff are providing patients, particularly the elderly, with tablets during their hospitalizations so they can interact with other loved ones who are not the designated visitor.

According to Spano, rises in infections, case numbers, and hospitalizations, influenced the new visitor policy, which is being reevaluated on a daily basis. Holiday season get-togethers and the contagious Omicron variant will likely further impact case numbers.

“We’re expecting this to get worse, before it gets better,” she said.