Cayuga Medical Center temporarily pauses hospital visits over coronavirus concerns

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) is temporarily prohibiting visitors in the hospital, citing the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the Ithaca area.

The policy went into effect Monday evening and “will remain in effect until further notice,” per a CMC news release.

Under the policy, no visitors will be allowed entry to the hospital during a patient’s stay until the temporary restrictions are lifted.

The hospital will make exceptions when “medically necessary,” including deliveries at Cayuga Birthplace or for family members or legal representatives of patients in imminent end-of-life care.

In addition, with certain restrictions, emergency room (ER) patients may be accompanied by a single support person, but those support persons may not accompany admitted patients into the inpatient hospital units.

CMC also noted that it will continue screening everyone entering the building.

Tompkins County went weeks with virtually no COVID-19 hospitalizations, but in the last two weeks the number of people hospitalized with the illness has risen from zero to nine, as of Monday. That’s the highest since the pandemic started, according to county data. The county also recently reported its first COVID-19 death.

“We understand this will be difficult for some patients and apologize for the inconvenience. We encourage everyone to make use of technology such as phones and tablets, which the hospital has available for patient use, to facilitate communication with loved ones and patients in the hospital,” CMC said of its new policy on visitors.

Cayuga Medical Center, which is part of Cayuga Health, is a nonprofit, acute-care medical center providing services to the residents of Tompkins, Cortland, Seneca, and Tioga counties. CMC houses over 200 beds and employs 1,200 with a medical staff of 200 affiliated physicians.