The hospital has seen a concerning uptick in hospitalizations, reaching our all-time high number of COVID positive inpatients yesterday, 50. Today there are 49 COVID positive inpatients. There has been a noticeable increase in younger people getting the virus from community spread and being hospitalized. SMH has numerous contingency plans in place and is prepared to handle the current patient volume and any potential surge if COVID numbers do continue to rise. Initially, SMH eased the “no visitor” policy while there were less COVID positive patients in the hospital, but because of the uptick SMH has had to re-instate the policy with exceptions. This is just one of the many things SMH is doing to keep patients, staff and the community safe. The hospital has re-opened all of the Urgent Care Centers and is seeing an increase in patient volumes there. Virtually all furloughed staff have come back to work, while some support staff are working from home to reduce the number of people in the hospital. While SMH continues to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital is asking the community to take this seriously and take all proper precautions including social distancing when possible and wearing masks to reduce the spread of the disease.