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The recent upswing of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across Canada due to the combination of Delta and Omicron variants, referred to as the “fifth wave”, has caused many hospitals to once again shut their doors to visitors. During an earlier COVID wave, Mushi and colleagues decried the reflexive response of many hospitals to restrict visitation nearly completely.1 Hospital administrators and infectious disease experts posited reasons for these "necessary" restrictions, including limited supply of personal protective equipment and risk of spreading infection. Yet this far into the pandemic response, there is no evidence to support these reasons for visitor exclusion. There is no compelling evidence that visitors spread infection. There is, however, evidence that infection control measures in acute and chronic care settings are adequate at preventing the spread of infectious organisms.2 In addition, the general public is by now quite educated on the steps to take to prevent infectious spread (i.e., handwashing, masking, distancing, isolating when symptoms). Rapid COVID tests can be administered as well. Most centers have also stocked up on both the more advanced (N95 masks) and basic (regular medical procedural masks, disposable gowns) equipment.
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Family members or other designated persons are often essential to the patient. Family members may play an integral role in emotional and physical support, communication between the patient and healthcare team, d...Competing Interests: None declared.References
- 1. Laveena Munshi, Gerald Evans, Fahad Razak. The case for relaxing no-visitor policies in hospitals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. CMAJ 2021;193:E135-E137.
- 2. Zhou Q, et al. Nosocomial infections among patients with COVID-19, SARS and MERS: a rapid review and meta-analysis. Annals of translational medicine. 2020;8:629-629.
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besides PPE a rapid covid test should be required
Competing Interests: None declared.References
- Laveena Munshi, Gerald Evans, Fahad Razak. The case for relaxing no-visitor policies in hospitals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. CMAJ 2020;10.1503/cmaj.202636.