A growing number of hospital systems throughout the greater Tampa Bay region are responding to the current COVID-19 surge by reinstituting limitations from earlier in the pandemic.
BayCare is temporarily stopping all elective procedures at its six Hillsborough County hospitals. It's also limiting patients to one adult visitor per day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m starting Tuesday.
Elective procedures that require an overnight stay in an inpatient bed are being temporarily halted at BayCare's Polk County hospitals.
However, BayCare officials say they're not changing the elective procedure schedule at their Pinellas and Pasco county hospitals.
And the Inpatient Nursing Units at Manatee Memorial Hospital and Lakewood Ranch Medical Center will not be allowing patient visitation starting Tuesday with limited exceptions. Manatee Memorial is also barring visitors to its emergency room.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital and AdventHealth Central Florida — which has two hospitals in Lake Wales and Davenport — previously announced visitation to COVID-positive patients will not be allowed, with a few restrictions.
