We are
changing our inpatient visitation
guidelines at UW Medicine as well as our outpatient guidelines,
and here at UW Medical Center, we're going to be allowing
two inpatient visitors, I should say one to two inpatient visitors,
depending on the space and clinics get one outpatient visitor.
There are some clinics that may have slightly different policy,
for instance, transplant
clinics or rehabilitation clinics, which may be allowing two visitors.
And we think this is a really important
way to protect vulnerable patients and our health care workers.
So folks are required either to be vaccinated
or to show proof of a negative test within 72 hours.
And there are a number of ways that you can show proof of a negative test
so you can bring in the test.
You can have a photo of the test with your name and the date on it,
or you can show a digital copy of the test.
This visitation process started actually well before Omicron
and has already been rolled out at Harborview Medical Center and actually
the reception has been quite positive for staff and for patients.
But we think that this is adds another layer of protection
for our vulnerable patients and for our staff.
Hola, buenas tardes!
Bottlenecks are a good question.
You know, thankfully, we've gotten very used to screening throughout the past
two years, and I think
with the help of additional screeners and a wristband system, we're very hopeful
that this is not going to lead to longer lines at the front door.
ran on the lobby on them with the same opinions that
if somebody does not have a negative test or is unvaccinated,
they will be turned away.
But we would encourage them to get vaccinated and we're happy to offer that.
We also are hopeful that we will have either rapid testing available
in pharmacies nearby
or in many of our sites that are either on campus or in the community
where they can go and get a test and then come back when they're ready.
Yes, so there are a few exceptions that I'd like to mention,
and I'll just give you some examples, I like to think about it as you know,
people at the beginning of life or the end of life.
So if a woman is in labor,
we want her to be able to have support members or family present.
Similarly, if there's an urgent end of life situation,
we want people to have their their friends and loved ones be able to visit.
I would refer people to our website that has full versions of the policy
because there are a number of other exceptions
and that may help answer questions that people have.
We also have translations on the website that that may be helpful.
so Omicron has not affected our masking policy,
and I just want to want to reiterate that Omicron is not a new virus,
it's just a variant of the same virus that we've been dealing with this whole time.
And so our masking policy is, if anything, we're just trying to
elevate our standard masks.
So when people come in to the hospital, we want everybody
to be wearing a hospital grade mask, which we will provide.
If people want to wear a cloth mask, they're welcome to,
but they can put the medical mask over it
if people want to wear an N95 or a K95,
some of those higher level respirators, that's fine and they're welcome to do so.
Here at
UW Medicine, I think we're very prepared for Omicron or any other variants,
and just to reemphasize that, you know, this is not a new virus,
it's the same virus that we've been dealing with.
And so we expect all of our mitigation measures masking, distancing
and even vaccines to have a significant impact
in curtailing Omicron or other new variants.
We're also very, very lucky that our lab has excellent testing capacity and is able
to quickly screen for new Omicron cases as well as sequence them.