Baptist changes hospital visitor guidelines due to COVID-19 concerns

Effectively immediately, visitor guidelines have changed at Baptist hospitals due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

This includes Baptist-Tipton, the 100-bed facility in Covington.

“Baptist is strongly committed to the health and well-being of our patients and family members, team members, physicians and community,” said communications coordinator Caroline Gillard. “With a growing number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID -19) in the United States, it is now imperative that Baptist remains vigilant in providing a safe environment for our patients and employees.

On Thursday, Gov. Bill Lee declared a state of emergency for Tennessee due to the pandemic.

The following guidelines are now in place:

• Any patient visitor with respiratory symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath) should stay home. Special circumstances may be considered.
• We strongly recommend limiting the number of visitors to two per patient.
• Hospitals should use discretion and may screen visitors for signs and symptoms of infection.

While you are a visitor:

• Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Cover your sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.  Or, sneeze into the crook of your arm.
• Keep your distance from others (about 6 feet).

Visitors to COVID-19 patients will be limited on a case by case method.