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Bright Futures

Articles and Updates from Phoenix Children's

June 22, 2020
Masks, screenings and other safeguards during COVID-19

It’s clear that COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon. With cases on the rise in Arizona, residents are recommitting to social distancing guidelines and local government officials are working to mandate the use of masks in their respective cities and towns.

At Phoenix Children’s, our first and most pressing responsibility is to safeguard the health of our patients – and the providers who care for them. While symptoms of COVID-19 are generally mild in otherwise healthy children, Phoenix Children’s also cares for medically fragile and immunocompromised patients in the “high risk” category.

To provide the safest environment possible for these patients – and every other person who walks through our doors – we take many precautions, which include masks for visitors and patients ages 2 years and older, symptom screening, visitor guidelines, staggered scheduling and numerous others:

  • Masks: Data shows masks are key to curbing the spread of COVID-19. That’s why we require all of our providers and employees to wear masks continuously after entering any Phoenix Children’s location. We also require all visitors and patients ages 2 years and up to wear a cloth mask or face covering (we’ll provide a mask for anyone who arrives without one).  
  • Screening: We screen every patient and caregiver who comes to our hospitals or clinics for fever and cold or flu-like symptoms. We also screen all staff members – every time they enter our hospital or other sites of service.
  • Visitor Restrictions: At the hospital, one healthy adult caregiver may be in the patient’s room at a time (though two caregivers may be registered to visit a hospitalized child). In the emergency room and clinics, one healthy primary caregiver is permitted per patient.
  • Enhanced Cleaning: In addition to increasing the frequency of cleaning, we have also implemented enhanced cleaning and disinfecting procedures in patient rooms, operating rooms, clinics and common areas.
  • Staggered Schedules: Patient visits and treatment schedules are staggered to reduce the number of people in our hospital and clinics at any given time.
  • Social Distancing: We have reconfigured many areas in our hospital and clinics to make it easy to stay six feet away from others.

It’s a strange and difficult time. Together, we can help mitigate the spread of this disease. For more details about masking, read Phoenix Children’s current visitor and patient guidelines.

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