SALISBURY TWP.. Pa. - The area’s two largest health care providers announced on Sunday that they will jointly ban visitors to most area hospitals. The move is meant to protect patients and staff from exposure to the coronavirus. Brian Downs is Public Information Officer for Lehigh Valley Health Network.
"Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke's are joining together to put out a common,’no visitation’ access policy for all of our hospitals and outpatient facilities," said Downs.
He says that includes Lehigh Valley physician group practices and St Luke's physician group offices. The policy went into effect on Sunday for LVHN and today at 5PM for St. Lukes.
Downs says he understands the change may be hard for some families.
"We're sympathetic to their concerns and we also understand it could be difficult for some people to try to meet these guidelines. But these are unprecedented times, so we're trying to take steps so that we make sure that, that everyone's protected," said Downs.
There are exceptions for extreme need, which include: visiting a patient nearing the end of life - parental visits of a child in an intensive care unit - one partner or coach for patients in labor, and other similar instances. No child under 12 is permitted to visit the hospitals, unless they are the patient in need of care.
