Las Palmas Del Sol restricting El Paso hospital visitors in virus response

EL PASO, Texas —  Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare is restricting visitors at all its facilities in response to the novel coronavirus.

The El Paso hospital group announced the restrictions on Sunday, noting that "these changes are necessary given the recent presumptive positive case in our community."

It said visiting hours would now be 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and visitors would continue to be screened at entrances, adding that "if a visitor doesn’t pass the entrance screening, they are not allowed in the facility."

The hospitals are also limiting visitation to one person at a time per patient, and barring anyone under the age of 18 from visiting patients.

"One person may remain overnight with a patient in select areas of the hospital only, including pediatrics, neonatal ICU (NICU), and labor and delivery," the healthcare group also said in a statement.