(Radio Iowa) – Starting today (Tuesday), hospitals in Iowa’s largest metro area will again restrict visitors.  Due to the steep rise in COVID-19 cases, especially in Polk and Dallas counties, the Des Moines metro area hospitals will stop allowing any visitors, with just a few exceptions, like if the patient is under 18, in maternity care, is suffering from delirium, or is imminently dying. The latest visitor ban covers Broadlawns, MercyOne Des Moines and West Des Moines Medical Centers and UnityPoint Health – Des Moines. Officials say they understand the restrictions may be difficult, but they’re in the best interest of hospitalized patients and staff.

Polk County Health Department spokesperson, Nola Aigner Davis says the county has not seen an increase in COVID-19 related hospitalizations. But it has been averaging between 120 and 130 new confirmed cases daily. “When we see high cases like that, we want to put our most vulnerable populations, including our hospitalized individuals in the most safest conditions possible,” she says.

Davis says the county has seen cases increasing since late June. “We could peak higher than what we saw in May. So when we see numbers like that we know we have to protect our most vulnerable and those are patients that are hospitalized.” Hospital visitor restrictions were put in place statewide in March, and then eased in June as cases at the time were dropping.