With California hospitalizations at an all-time low due to COVID-19, local hospitals are still taking serious precautions in response to the virus.
More people receiving their vaccinations has led to fewer COVID-19 patients seen by local hospitals.
Sierra Vista Hospital House Supervisor Lisa Shaner said, “We certainly feel safer here, but we still don’t let our guard down.”
Sierra Vista Hospital Chief Nursing Officer Arthur Dominguez Jr. said, “We’re starting to see a decrease in patients that are sick enough to be admitted versus before in January and February where we were seeing a peak.”
With San Luis Obispo County in the orange tier, the trend of COVID-19 patients dropping has been a welcome sign to the hospitals.
Shaner said, “The vaccinations were key, and I know our staff feels so much better having been vaccinated.”
The protocol within hospitals is beginning to turn back to what was once deemed normal.
Dominguez Jr. said, “We went from no visitation whatsoever to one designated visitor for a few hours a day. Now we’re to the point where we have two visitors with set hours of the day, but it doesn’t have to be the same set two people.”
Even with the active cases dropping to 140 in San Luis Obispo County as of Monday, hospitals continue to remain cautious about the virus.
Shaner said, “Here at the hospital we are still following our guidelines. We need to protect our patients, our families, and our staff. We are still following mask-wearing, we are limiting visitors, we will screen everyone that comes in for symptoms.”
Dominguez Jr. said, “Washing your hands, masking when appropriate and when you are able to, and social distancing, those things cannot go away for us to get through this.”