Houston Methodist makes change to visitor policy due to rising COVID cases

HOUSTON – The Houston Methodist Hospital has temporarily changed its visitor policy due to the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.

Hospital officials said because of the surge, they have modified their visitor policy, which goes into effect Monday. The hospital will now limit visitation for all patients, not in isolation for COVID, to one healthy visitor in medical-surgical units, procedural areas and for doctor appointments.

Officials said hospitalized patients will be allowed one overnight visitor, meaning only one person per patient whether that’s an appointment or overnight.

As of Friday, 256 COVID-19 patients are currently occupying hospital beds at Houston Methodist, which has more than doubled from two weeks ago, according to Houston Methodist.

READ: Houston Methodist sees ‘alarming spike’ in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations; identifies its first case of Lambda variant

Officials said the positivity rate is now doubling about every 17 days, which is quicker than any other point in the pandemic.