On Sunday, Butler Health System announced several measures being undertaken in an effort to address concerns over novel coronavirus 2019. Among the changes:

Tower entrance only way into hospitalPatient access to Butler Memorial Hospital will be solely through the Tower entrance and only between the hours of 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily.All other entrances to the Butler hospital are closed (including the Brady Street entrance) with the exception of the Emergency Department, which is reserved for emergency cases only. Individuals who are not in an emergency health situation or critically ill, thus requiring emergency care, are asked to contact their physician’s office for guidance and direction before reporting to the emergency department.

Outpatient testing at all BHS locationsIndividuals experiencing symptoms of a fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose/congestion, or flu-like symptoms and have outpatient testing scheduled are asked to cancel their testing and not go to hospital or outpatient locations for walk in testing (lab, X-ray). Patients are asked to contact the physician who ordered testing for further direction.

Non-emergency surgical procedures postponedBHS also announced that all procedures scheduled to take place at hospitals and outpatient centers within its system in the next two weeks are being evaluated by physicians to determine if they are nonemergency and can be postponed.In a statement issued Sunday morning, the regional health system said the move follows the recommendation of U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who urged hospitals and health care systems to consider suspending elective surgical procedures amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in a tweet Saturday morning.In his tweet, Adams listed three reasons hospital systems should consider the move. He said the elective procedures “brings possible coronavirus to your facilities, pulls from (personal protective equipment) stores, and taxes personnel who may be needed for COVID-19 response.”The tweet came following a Friday tweet from the American College of Surgeons urging hospital systems and surgeons to “prepare now to manage elective surgical procedures during COVID-19 outbreak, with a plan to minimize, postpone, or cancel at this time.”In its statement, BHS said that all elective or nonemergency surgical procedures scheduled for the next two weeks — including surgery, cath lab, angiography and endoscopy procedures — at Butler Memorial Hospital, Clarion Hospital and The Surgery Center at Benbrook are “being evaluated with the physicians performing the procedure to determine if they are non-emergent and may be postponed.”BHS further reported that patients will be contacted prior to the date of their scheduled procedure if it is being postponed.

Clarion Hospital visitation restrictionsAdditionally, at 6 p.m. Sunday, Clarion Hospital also enacted visitation restriction measures. Other than those listed here, all patient entrances will be closed.The main entrance to the hospital will remain open to patients between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.The Emergency Department is reserved for emergency cases only. Individuals who are not in an emergency health situation or critically ill, thus requiring emergency care, are asked to contact their physician’s office for guidance and direction before reporting to the emergency department.The Cancer Center entrance at Clarion Hospital will remain open and is reserved for cancer patients. The health system is enacting the measure in an effort to “reduce exposure and protect this vulnerable population of patients.”The health care system is continuing to monitor the developments surrounding the impact of COVID-19 and will post additional updates on its website.