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Updates from USA Health on COVID-19

Updates from USA Health | Public Resources | Employee Resources

Updates also are being provided by the University of South Alabama. For additional information, please visit the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  

Visitation Guidelines

USA Health has updated the visitation policies for some of its facilities. Please review our written policies concerning visitation for University Hospital [PDF] and Children's & Women's Hospital [PDF].
  

Reminder: If You're Sick

Call ahead to your healthcare professional if you develop a fever and symptoms of respiratory illness, such as cough or difficulty breathing, and have been in close contact with a person known to have Coronavirus or if you live in or have recently traveled to an area with ongoing spread.

Current status at USA Health facilities

The Mobile area is seeing an increase in confirmed cases of COVID. Because the number fluctuates, USA Health must be flexible in its policies to adapt to the circumstances. In May 2022, USA Health launched two statuses, Green Zone and Red Zone, that will explain which protocols should be followed in our facilities.

Effective Feb. 6, 2023:

Green Zone

Masks

Face masks are not required in USA Health areas in which direct patient care is not provided (offices, cafeterias, gift shops). Face masks are required in USA Health areas in which direct patient care is provided.

Pre-procedure and routine testing for hospitalized patients

Testing is only required for symptomatic patients.

Staff and educational gatherings

Gatherings in pre-pandemic formats are allowed. Symptomatic individuals should refrain from attending and should get tested.

USA Health closed drive-through COVID testing and vaccine center on March 18

Published March 21, 2022

Nearly two years after USA Health partnered with the City of Mobile to bring COVID-19 testing to the public at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, the region’s only academic health system closed its drive-through facility in west Mobile on Friday, March 18.

The demand for COVID testing and the vaccine to protect against it has dropped significantly in recent months, as the infection rate and hospitalizations related to the coronavirus also have sharply declined along the Gulf Coast and much of the United States.

All told, nearly 118,000 COVID tests have been administered by USA Health to patients, employees and the public since March of 2020. Following national distribution by the government in late 2020, USA Health was first in the region to offer the vaccine to healthcare workers beginning on Dec. 15 of that year. More than 106,000 vaccine doses have been given by USA Health staff and medical volunteers since then.

“I’m incredibly proud of the effort and dedication our employees have shown throughout this challenging time in our community and around the world,” said Natalie Fox, D.N.P., executive director for academic practices at USA Health. “I’m glad we were able to step in and fill a need in the region at a time when large-scale resources were not yet available.”

In the spring of 2020, USA Health partnered with the City of Mobile to offer drive-through COVID-19 testing. In January 2021, the partnership expanded to offer drive-through COVID vaccinations at the Mobile Civic Center arena. The testing and vaccine center moved to the University of South Alabama campus in January 2022.

Individual USA Health staff members and the pandemic task force have been recognized for innovation and efficiency while meeting the challenges of providing convenient access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines during community-based events at area churches and mass vaccination clinics held in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

In February, 2021, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson honored USA Health staff members with Exceptional Citizenship Awards for their creative and persistent efforts to protect the health and safety of area residents. Since then, USA Health has been recognized by Mobile County Public Schools, the Mobile Medical Museum, USA’s National Alumni Association, the Alabama Nursing Association and the Sun Belt Conference, among others, for its continued efforts to stop the spread of COVID along the upper Gulf Coast and beyond.

Notice about multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C)

Published August 31, 2021

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a serious condition that appears to be linked to COVID-19. Most children who become infected with the COVID-19 virus have a mild illness. But in children who go on to develop MIS-C, some organs and tissues -- such as the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, brain, skin or eyes -- become severely inflamed. Signs and symptoms depend on which areas of the body are affected. To learn more, please read Information about Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children [PDF].

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