Newton-Wellesley Hospital Restricts Visitors As Cases Rise

NEWTON, MA — Newton-Wellesley Hospital is restricting visitors, as the infection rates in greater Boston steadily rises.

"Out of an abundance of caution and to help mitigate the spread of the virus, we proactively implemented changes to our inpatient visitor policy," said Heidi Wilson a spokesperson for Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

On Saturday, the hospital stopped permitting visitors onto the Newton-Wellesley Hospital main campus unless they meet specific criteria, said Wilson.

Effective Nov. 30, visitors will not be permitted in outpatient (ambulatory) settings, including hospital-based services, GI, Imaging, Medical Office Building practices, and Outpatient Surgery, except in cases where a support person is appropriate, according to the hospital spokesperson.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital first imposed visitor limitations in March, and had been allowing one "support person" for one hour per day for each patient.

The tighter restrictions comes as Massachusetts is preparing to bring back field hospitals as the state makes plans to handle the rising number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and worsening virus trends that Gov. Charlie Baker said show "no signs of changing."

Field hospitals were scattered across the state during the spring when the coronavirus was at its peak and strained health care capacity. Baker said space and need will help determine where they go this time around.

As of Nov. 18, there were 885 people hospitalized because of the coronavirus, according to state data.

Several communities in greater Boston reported cases steadily rising in recent days.

Newton had 50 additional confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 reported over the six days from Nov. 5 through Nov. 11, bringing the cumulative confirmed case total in the city to 1,207 people. During the previous eight-day period from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5, the city had 44 confirmed cases, and 39 during the eight days prior to that.

Waltham had a total 1,866 people test positive for the virus as of Nov. 11, and that's up 167 cases leading up to the two-week period before that, according to state data.

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.