Patient and visitor guidelines: What you need to know for your next visit

All patients and visitors to UW Health clinic and hospital locations are required to:

• Wear a barrier mask covering the nose and mouth

• Answer screening questions regarding COVID-19

• Sanitize their hands frequently

• Practice physical distancing

Face coverings

UW Health requires every person over the age of five (providers, staff, patients, visitors, etc.) in a UW Health facility (all spaces, including non-clinical areas) to wear a minimum of a barrier mask.

Barrier masks

• Provide a higher level of protection than face coverings

• They prevent respiratory droplets that are in the air from entering your mouth and nose

• They stop your respiratory droplets from reaching other people

Patients who arrive with a cloth face mask will be provided a barrier mask to wear. The mask must cover both the nose and mouth and be worn the entire time you are in a UW Health facility. Inpatients must wear masks while in the hallways and while staff are in the patient room. Patients who are not able to tolerate wearing a mask over the mouth and nose should contact their health care provider by phone or through MyChart.

Please refer to the following information for the number of primary support persons and visitors allowed at pediatric and adult outpatient appointments and inpatient stays.

Clergy, interpreters, liaisons such as hospice workers, adult protective services, identified skills nursing facility liaisons, peer support liaisons are not considered visitors and are considered part of the allowed care team.

A patient’s care team may make compassionate exceptions when appropriate. A request for a compassionate exception must be made prior to a clinic or outpatient appointment for proper review and consideration.