Hospital opens to visitors

With the number of serious COVID-19 cases seeming to be on the decline, Crook County Medical Services District has made the decision to reopen the hospital and long-term care to visitors on a limited basis.

At this time, says CEO Micki Lyons, inpatients within the hospital can receive one visitor each between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. In the LTC, visitation will be restricted to two chosen persons per resident.

“Visits will need to be scheduled ahead of time with the LTC staff so that we can continue to limit the number of individuals in the facility at one time and can maintain the required social distancing,” Lyons says.

Of course, says Lyons, “we know things can change quickly,” but at the time the decision was made, the facility had not seen any new positive COVID-19 inpatients for about five days.

“We are still seeing positives through the clinics and ER but have been able to provide monoclonal antibodies to those patients that do not require oxygen,” she says.

“This seems to have been beneficial in keeping people from needing hospitalization.”

Monoclonal antibodies, according to the FDA, are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful pathogens, such as viruses. The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for certain types of monoclonal antibody that are specifically directed against the spike protein of COVID-19 and designed to block the virus’s attachment and entry into human cells, or reduce inflammation to prevent the immune system from becoming hyperactive.