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Public Health calling for virtual visits

July 18, 2022 9:10 pm in by

The Royal Hobart Hospital in the CBD of Tasmania's capital city. Hobart, Tuesday, November 16, 2020. (AAP Image/Chris Crerar) NO ARCHIVING

(AAP Image/Chris Crerar)

Public Health has asked family and friends of hospital patients to consider a virtual visit, as Covid-19 cases continue to climb.

Officials are pushing for loved ones of hospital patients to consider a virtual visit, instead of showing up in person.

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Locals could include contacting patients remotely, using phone, FaceTime or Teams, if available, and to avoid a physical visit to the hospital where possible.

The call follows a surge in Coronavirus cases in public hospital, officials monitoring over 160 covid-positive patients statewide.

All Tasmanian hospitals continue to operate at level 3 of their COVID-19 Management Escalation Plans.

Acting State Health Commander Dale Webster maintains it’ll help the hospitals in dealing with COVID-19 if the number of visitors in the hospital is reduced even further by people considering virtual visits.

“This request for assistance has been made due to the current level of COVID-19 transmission in the community, with the safety of patients and staff the highest priority,” Mr Webster said.

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Those who do decide to visit patients in person must wear a mask in all facilities.

Exemptions beyond these visiting restrictions, including for compassionate reasons, are at the discretion of the nurse-in-charge of the ward.

At the Royal Hobart Hospital and Launceston General Hospital, visits are limited to one visitor per patient, between the hours of 2pm and 6pm, for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Those visits can be 60 minutes at the North West Regional Hospital between 2.30pm and 6pm and 60 minutes at the Mersey Community Hospital between 2pm and 6pm.

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