Ottawa Hospital, CHEO limit visits due to COVID-19

The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO, the city's children's hospital,have both adjusted theirrules regarding visitors in response to the outbreak ofCOVID-19.

CHEO's change in policy went into effect Sunday. It means thehospital will now screen all visitors upon entry to CHEO's main campus, and soon at all sites across the region, too.

Only one person a parent, guardian or family representative will be allowed to accompany patients to the emergency department, clinic or outpatient areas.

Two people will still be allowed to accompany any patients required to stay overnight.Only those who have been assigned passes by the hospital will be permitted to stay bedside.

CHEO is also banning siblings from visiting the hospital.

The Ottawa Hospitalchanged its policy on Saturday, limiting visitors to one per patient. Allvisitors must also be at least 12 years old.

They will also deny entry to any visitor who has a cough, cold, fever or other symptoms of coronavirus.

People are asked to coordinate their visits to the hospital to avoid multiple visitors arriving at the same time.

According to the hospital, some units have instituted additional restrictionsto protect vulnerablepatients.