Hospital Visitor Restrictions Begin to Ease

By Jeremy Coumbes on January 19, 2021 at 3:31pm

Restrictions on visitors to Passavant Area Hospital are beginning to ease.

Memorial Health System announced today, as the number of COVID-19 inpatients decreases and the state lifts mitigation efforts in central Illinois, some visitor restrictions will begin to relax tomorrow, Wednesday, January 20th.

One visitor at a time for adult inpatients will be allowed between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. At all five hospitals in the Memorial Health System network, including Passavant in Jacksonville.

The hospitals will allow one support person and one additional visitor for inpatient obstetrics patients. Those two people must be the same for the duration of the stay.

No visitors will be allowed for patients being treated for COVID-19, or patients being evaluated for the virus until a COVID-19 infection is ruled out.

All visitors must wear a face covering that covers their nose and mouth at all times while in the hospitals.

Other visitor restrictions will remain in place, including only one visitor allowed in the Emergency Department, who must remain with their patient for the duration of their visit, and two visitors permitted for those at end-of-life care, among others.

Memorial Health system says a total of 68 COVID-19 patients were in Memorial Health System’s hospitals as of Jan. 15. That represents a decrease from a high of 173 patients back on Nov. 30, 2020.

Along with Passavant, Memorial Health Systems consists of Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Decatur Memorial Hospital, and Taylorville Memorial Hospital.