Updated May 18, 2020

When you come to our physician offices, Urgent Care Centers or hospitals for care, you’ll experience some of the precautions we’ve put in place to help keep you safe:

• Separation of patients
• Cleaning and disinfection
• Universal mask policy
• Temperature and symptom screening
• Increased visitor restrictions

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Separation of patients

• We have separate treatment areas for patients with symptoms indicating possible COVID-19 infection or confirmed COVID-19 cases and patients with other symptoms in both our hospitals (including our Emergency Departments) and Urgent Care Centers.
• We are screening all patients who call our physician offices for COVID-19 symptoms and patients who have symptoms of COVID-19 are being cared for either via video visits or in our respiratory Urgent Care locations, not in physician offices.

Cleaning and disinfection

• John Muir Health is following cleaning and disinfection guidelines recommended by the CDC and California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), as well as instructions from John Muir Health infection prevention specialists. These recommendations and guidelines are all in alignment with the cleaning policies and procedures already in place at our facilities.
  • Regularly cleaning all high-touch surfaces (anything people commonly touch such as door handles, armchairs, counters, etc.) in our hospitals and outpatient facilities, which include physician practices and Urgent Care Centers, using CDC-recommended cleaning supplies.
  • In our hospitals, we follow all industry standard guidelines by cleaning every occupied inpatient room daily. We also clean and disinfect every vacant room before the next patient arrives.
  • We are deep cleaning any isolation precaution rooms in our hospitals and outpatient facilities where we have cared for patients with symptoms of COVID-19.

Universal mask policy

• All patients and visitors are given commercially produced medical face masks upon entry into our physician practices, hospitals and Urgent Care Centers.
• Patients may not wear cloth face coverings, cloth masks, or masks that have a valve (small plastic disk on front of mask) while in John Muir Health facilities. This is because these masks do not provide as much protection against droplet release as medical face masks. Patients who arrive wearing one of these masks can either change masks or place a medical face mask over the one they are wearing.
• Patients and visitors (strict visitor policies remain in place) in our hospitals will be given a new mask each day. All John Muir Health staff and physicians are also required to wear face masks while in our facilities.
• Please note: physicians and staff will continue to wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) based on CDC guidelines for the patients they are caring for or procedures they are conducting.

Temperature and symptom screening

• Before entering any of our facilities, all patients, visitors, staff and physicians undergo routine temperature monitoring and symptom screening.
• Checking temperatures and screening for symptoms helps us catch any potential illness that a person may not yet be aware of themselves.
• The screening process includes quickly having your temperature taken with a temporal artery thermometer, which scans the forehead, and responding to a few brief COVID-19 symptom screening questions. These thermometers are disinfected before being used on the next person.
• Anyone with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher, and/or who says yes to any of the COVID-19 screening questions will not be permitted to enter our facilities.

Increased visitor restrictions

• For the safety of our patients and staff, we have implemented stricter visitor restrictions. We no longer allow visitors into the medical centers with a few exceptions.
• Exceptions to hospital visitor restrictions:
  • One (1) identified person for the duration of the patient’s stay with us in Pediatrics, Labor & Delivery and Post-partum. Support person must not have any symptoms of illness and/or have been in contact with anyone who is sick.
  • One (1) identified visitor for patients with severe language barriers, patients near the end of life.
• We are temporarily restricting visitors in our outpatient facilities, including our Urgent Care Centers and many physician offices.
  • Patients who are seen in person should plan to have non-essential family or friends wait outside of the building or in the car.
  • Pediatric patients or those patients needing assistance may be accompanied by only one parent, guardian, or caregiver.