San Angelo Hospitals Restrict Access as No Coronavirus Cases Reported in Tom Green County

SAN ANGELO, TX — As of March 22, 2020 at noon, there have been no reports of COVID-19, the coronavirus, in Tom Green County. Statewide, the number of confirmed cases sits at 334 while the number of those tested has rapidly increased. The state reported 8,756 tests were administered so far. The number of coronavirus deaths is five statewide. (See chart below)

Both the county and the city of San Angelo are under restrictions of no public gatherings greater than 10 people. The order, as mandated at the state level, closed San Angelo gathering places such as restaurant dining areas, bars, and churches. More on that here.

Sunday morning, the San Angelo Police Department asked citizens to cease calling the 9-1-1 emergency number to report gatherings greater than 10. The police department's stance is to encourage voluntary enforcement of the rule. However, the police later Sunday reported that to report large gatherings greater than 10 people to call the non-emergency lines at 325-657-4315 or 325-657-4316.

Both hospitals announced each facility, Shannon Medical Center and San Angelo Community Medical Center will curtail or postpone non-essential surgeries and visits.

"Shannon Medical Center and Shannon Clinic have determined, in the best interest of our patients and staff during the growing COVID-19 pandemic, to postpone all non-essential surgeries and visits. This decision allows us to prioritize urgent and emergency visits and procedures while preserving staff, personal protective equipment and patient care supplies and further expanding patient and staff safety during this pandemic," the hospital stated.

"This change will be effective beginning Tuesday, March 24. This decision aligns with the recommendations issued by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and is a critically important step in limiting the spread of COVID-19.

"Providers will be contacting patients with upcoming appointments and procedures. To ensure patients’ immediate needs are met, clinic providers will continue to provide care via telephone, telemedicine or in-person depending on each patient’s individual situation."

San Angelo Community Medical Center issued a similar statement:

"At SACMC, we have been evaluating our surgery and procedure protocols for several days. Our goals are to help safeguard the health of our community and our workforce, and to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies that may be needed to deliver care to COVID patients. There have already been significant voluntary curtailments of surgeries, and in collaboration with our medical staff leadership, we expect to have our final policies ready to take full effect on Tuesday. Our Monday procedures schedule is relatively light, and we will use Monday to get in touch with all patients who will be affected by these decisions. We will stop performing non-urgent elective cases, effective Tuesday morning, and we have a process in place to review all requested cases, to be certain that care is delivered in accordance with current recommendations. We take inventory of all PPE daily, to make sure we have adequate stores," stated SACMC CEO Rod M. Schumacher.

In addition, the State of Texas, under its public health disaster declaration named Shannon and SACMC as facilities appropriate for the examination, observations, quarantine, isolation, treatment or imposition of control measure during the public health disaster declared March 19.

In addition, the State ordered that all San Angelo medical facilities adhere to restrictions:

• No visitors other than one visitor per pediatric patient or legal guardians of incompetent persons
• Exceptions to the one person rule are for situations involving the end of life or military to be deployed
• Only one person will be allowed at medical facility during childbirth

Tom Green County public access to buildings will be limited as they closely follow the rapidly evolving situation with COVID-19. The county will be updating specific office information via its webpage. The county encourages you to visit departmental pages on their site, and use the contact information listed for each department to verify hours of operation before trying to visit the department physically. All changes will be ongoing until further notice. Updates will posted to the Tom Green County website.

The San Angelo ISD: Starting Monday, March 23, the San Angelo ISD will move to one meal service per day for Grab-n-Go Curbside Meals. Lunch and a snack (consisting of an item that can be served as a breakfast option for the next morning) will be provided during a single pickup time each day. All sites will now serve from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. each weekday. https://www.saisd.org/5055 Starting Monday, San Angelo ISD buses will be parked at 23 locations throughout San Angelo providing WiFi service to support students' internet needs. The buses will be available for walk-up and drive-up service, but students will not be allowed on the buses. WiFi will be available from 8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the locations marked on the SAISD website. You can also find connection information on the district website.