COLUMBIA - MU Health Care is relaxing visitor restrictions for its hospitals, effective Monday, May 10.Â
Adult inpatients at University Hospital, Missouri Orthopedic Institute and Women s and Children s Hospital will be allow two designated visitors. Visiting hours are also expanded, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.Â
Missouri Psychiatric Center patients will also be allowed two visitors, but visiting hours will remain 4 to 6 p.m.
Emergency department patients, those undergoing same-day surgery and testing and those attending clinic visits will continue to be limited to a single visitor. No visitors are permitted for COVID-19 diagnosed patients.
All visitors must be at least 16 years old. The hospitals will continue to use Zoom and FaceTime to provide patient access to those who cannot be present.
As the pandemic continues to put a strain on hospitals, MU Health Care is preparing its facilities and staff for even more COVID-19 patients if the need arises.
According to a âCOVID-19 Planning Updateâ presentation obtained by KOMU 8 News via a public records request, the hospitalâs surge plan envisions a capacity of 291 COVID-19 beds. According to MU Health Careâs COVID-19 dashboard, the hospital had 47 COVID-19-positive inpatients Monday and 41 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services reported Tuesday that the virus had killed two more Boone County residents. One person was in the 65-69 age group, and the other was older than 80. That brings the total to 40 people in the county.