Kaweah Delta allowing visitors for elective surgery patients again

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Patients scheduled to have elective surgeries at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia are allowed to have visitors again.

The hospital is changing its policy to allow these patients to have one visitor, providing they meet COVID-19 screening requirements.

Administrators say the change is due to a continued decline in coronavirus hospitalizations, even though Tulare County remains stuck in the state's most restrictive purple tier.

RELATED: Kaweah Delta will start allowing visitors from next week

State health department officials say the COVID-19 case rate in Tulare County continues to hover at around nine to ten new cases per day, per 100,000 residents.

In order to move into the less restrictive red tier, the county needs to have seven or fewer new cases a day.