Cookeville Regional Medical Center restricting visitors amid COVID, flu spike

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Amid a surge in COVID-19 and influenza cases, Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC) is now prohibiting children under 16 years old and anyone showing signs of illness from visiting patients at the hospital.

“It’s not unusual this time of year for us to limit children when there’s very, very high influenza activity,” said Dr. Mark Pierce, an infectious disease physician at CRMC. “We’re about as densely infected in Tennessee as you can be.”

In addition, Pierce said the medical center’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have spiked 60% in the past two weeks.

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Last week, CRMC had 150 positive tests for COVID-19 and 81 for the flu, according to Pierce.

“There’s going to be more transmission in the hospital as well, so the last thing we want is for someone to come into the hospital without COVID or influenza and be exposed in the hospital, and so we do our best to try to keep that from happening by keeping an eye on our staff, by trying to make sure our staff has good vaccination coverage to prevent both these illnesses, as well as having staff appropriately masked,” the doctor explained.

If staff members need to take time off because they get sick, Pierce said it will negatively impact the care CRMC can provide, so it’s important to have these precautions.

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“That impacts our staff, which is our ability to care for patients,” said Pierce.

CRMC said there will be special exceptions for the current restrictions, including siblings of newborns in the Birthing Center. For more information about CRMC’s visitation policy, click here.

According to Pierce, in addition to general hygiene practices, the best way you can protect yourself from illness is by getting vaccinated.

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