LEBANON — Dartmouth-Hitchcock instituted new restrictions on visitors on Friday in response to increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases and transmission rates across the region.
“In the interest of the health and safety of our patients, and recognizing the increases in COVID-19 case counts around the state and the region, we are returning to being more restrictive regarding people entering D-H facilities,” spokeswoman Audra Burns said in an email.
Cases have risen in the Twin States and around the country in recent weeks. New Hampshire was averaging about 150 new cases per day, as of Thursday, with a total of 1,063 active cases statewide. Vermont announced 24 new cases on Friday, with a total of 422 active cases.
But, so far at least, hospitalizations have lagged behind. New Hampshire had 44 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday. In Vermont, three people were hospitalized on Friday.
There were no people hospitalized with COVID-19 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon on Friday and hospital operations are otherwise unaffected, Burns said.
“We are not postponing any appointments or procedures at this time,” she said.
Under the new restrictions, no visitors will be admitted to a D-H facility for inpatient or outpatient visits, except for situations in which patients require caregivers, as well as for pediatric patients, labor and delivery and prenatal patients, perioperative patients, family meetings, patients at the end of life, and D-H employees and volunteers, according to a Friday news release.
The new restrictions apply to DHMC, as well as D-H’s Heater Road facility, the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative & Hospice Care, the Lyme Road clinic and D-H Community Group Practice locations in Concord, Manchester, Nashua, and elsewhere in southern New Hampshire.
D-H’s changes come following similar moves by Gifford Medical Center in Randolph and Springfield (Vt.) Hospital in recent weeks as numbers of cases of COVID-19 in the region have increased.
Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor and other Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system members in the Upper Valley, including Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital and New London Hospital, have not yet changed their visitor policies, but Mt. Ascutney and New London plan to implement changes soon.
“Community prevalence of COVID-19 is rising rapidly,” Dr. Joseph Perras, Mt. Ascutney’s CEO, said in a Friday phone interview. “This is the right first step.”
Still, because of the isolation that halting visits can cause for patients, Perras said, “We hate to do it.”
New London Hospital also anticipates “some modifications” to its visitor policy during the week of Nov. 16, spokeswoman Kathleen Kennedy said in a Friday email.
Under D-H’s new policy, even caregivers and visitors who fall under an exception will be sent away if they have COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the previous two weeks. No visitors under the age of 12 are permitted.
Screening procedures, including temperature checks, and questions about travel and attendance at large gatherings, remain in place, and masks are required in D-H facilities. Caregivers or visitors who qualify under one of the exceptions to the no-visitor policy and have traveled to high-risk areas or gathered in large groups will be given a medical-grade face mask and escorted to and from the patient’s room for their visit.
Those who do not qualify under one of the exemptions will be asked to wait in the parking lot. D-H is encouraging people to visit their hospitalized loved ones virtually by phone or video at this time, according to its website.
Because the hospitals have established procedures for managing patients with and without COVID-19 in parallel, Perras said he doesn’t anticipate needing to put a halt to elective procedures as hospitals did in the spring. Mt. Ascutney hasn’t had an inpatient with COVID-19 for months.
But with flu season approaching, he said, “Right now, we’re just remaining very vigilant over what’s to come.”
NEWPORT — An outbreak at Woodlawn Care Center as of Friday had grown to include a total of 26 people.
That total included 18 residents, an increase of five from the day before, as well as a total of eight employees, according to a Friday update posted to the nursing home’s Facebook page. One of the workers has recovered and another two no longer work at the nursing home.
The first employee tested positive on Oct. 21 and the first resident on Oct. 28. The Woodlawn outbreak is the largest known nursing home outbreak in the Upper Valley, and one of six current outbreaks in New Hampshire institutions as of Thursday. Nearly 2,500 of the state’s 11,808 total cases, 212 of the state’s 788 total hospitalizations, and 396 of the state’s 486 deaths have been in long-term care settings.
Woodlawn, which has 45 residents, is conducting nightly Zoom sessions for families while the outbreak continues and visitors are restricted.
SOUTH ROYALTON — All classes and clinics at Vermont Law School will be offered virtually in the spring.
There will be some in-person options for clinics and for some first-year classes, according to a Friday Facebook post on the school’s page. Some parts of the school’s South Royalton campus will continue to be available as study space. School administrators are working to reopen the fitness center.
“We realize this decision is disappointing, but we felt it was the right thing to do, based on feedback from students, faculty and staff and on the national and local virus outlooks,” the school’s leaders wrote in the post.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
