BATON ROUGE - As healthcare facilities across the nation make stringent efforts to protect patients and staff safe from the spread of coronavirus, it's become the norm for hospitalized individuals to spend most of their recovery time alone, instead of with visitors and family. 

These social distancing practices, though emotionally difficult, are in harmony with guidelines established by the CDC.

But one local hospital, while continuing to follow guidelines, is now allowing certain terminally ill patients to have up to two visiting family members for a limited amount of time.

Our Lady of the Lake is allowing two family members to visit terminal patients for 30 minutes. 

Family visitors are screened for fever and other symptoms when they enter the hospital, and they’re required to wear masks, gloves and gowns, provided by the hospital.

Those who are unable to visit their loved one prior to their passing will now be allowed into their room within one hour of the patient’s death if that patient was in an intensive care unit, or two hours of death if the patient was in a medical/surgical unit.