A woman is sick after her husband reportedly hid his coronavirus symptoms to visit her in the maternity ward. The expectant mom was in labor at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, and hospital officials are saying the father-to-be was feeling ill and attempted to hide his symptoms so he could be with his wife while she gave birth.
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Hospital officials say the man revealed he was sick after his wife also began to have COVID-19 symptoms shortly after giving birth last week. So far it has yet to be reported if whether either of the parents or their newborn baby have tested positive for the virus.
The case led to the hospital implementing new rules.
The hospital, which is part of the University of Rochester Medicine and Rochester Regional Health group, announced that it will be implementing a stricter protoccol for hospital visitors. This week, the hospital said it will be implementing universal masking procedures that took effect on Tuesday, March 31. Asking everyone to wear a mask is a step to protect health care workers and to slow down the cases and help flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the area.
All hospital visitors will be screened.
UR Medicine won't be allowing any more visitors and shared a list of new requirements for exempt hospital visitors, which includes allowing just one guardian for pediatric patients and one support person for moms in labor. All visitors arriving at the hospitals with maternity services will be screened by hospital staff for symptoms, including taking their temperatures. “In keeping with guidelines issued by the Monroe County Department of Public Health, UR Medicine hospitals have implemented a zero-visitation policy to further our efforts to protect patients and staff from the spread of COVID-19,” the statement on their website read.
The story follows the news that expectant dads could be banned from delivery rooms.
Other hospitals in New York began to implement rules to no longer allow visitors, including partners, for patients giving birth. "For the time being, we really do need to exclude all visitors, including partners, for women admitted in labor," Dr. Dena Goffman, who works for the NewYork-Presbyterian health care system said during a briefing on March 22. The hospital also made the decision to test all women in labor for Covid-19, even if they are not showing any symptoms. The announcement was not taken lightly by parents to be who were worried about either being alone during labor or missing the birth of their child.
Parents were outraged by the news.
A Change.org petition was created for all laboring people to have support during the crisis. After the backlash over some hospitals saying no visitors would be allowed, not even for patients giving birth, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made it clear that wouldn't be the case in his state, regardless of hospital policy. "In no hospital in New York will a woman be forced to be alone when she gives birth. Not now, not ever," he said on March 28.
