WHEELING, W.Va – Effective Monday, WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital and WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital will reinstate strict visitation policies to reduce the risk of spreading the highly infectious COVID-19 virus to both inpatients and external customers.

With the current resurgence of COVID in our communities, the need to restrict visitation to our hospital is apparent,” said Douglass Harrison, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. “We strongly encourage everyone to get the vaccine and aid in stopping the spread of this virus.”

The revision in the current visitation guidelines are as follows:

Adult Inpatient -Visitation Hours 10 am-6pm One (1) approved adult primary caretaker/visitor per patient per day during designated visitation times.

One (1) approved visitor for 60 minutes at time of admission and discharge if not within designated visiting hours.

Emergency Department

One (1) approved adult primary caretaker/visitor (over age of 18) with each adult patient arrival to ED (Emergency Department).

Critical Care Unit- During the time frame when both COVID positive and non-COVID patients are residing in the same Critical Care Unit the visitation will be as follows:

One (1) approved adult primary caretaker/visitor per patient (per day) on admission and every 5 days for a period of one hour.

Specific to the Critical Care- End of Life Care visitation will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and approved through Nursing Administration or Administrator on Call. Consultation with the Infection Control Department/ Practitioner may be sought as needed.