As the city battles with rising COVID-19 cases and the Omicron variant, NYC Health + Hospitals is now suspending some visitation. 

NYC Health + Hospitals released a statement saying, “To address the new threats posed to our patients and staff by the highly transmissible COVID-19 Omicron variant, NYC Health + Hospitals has temporarily suspended patient visitations system-wide with few exceptions.”

Those exceptions include when the visit is essential to a patient's care, if the patient is in an end-of-life situation, if they’re in labor or if it’s a pediatric patient or an infant in the neonatal ICU. 

The new policy will be in effect starting on Wednesday.

Visitors who qualify for the exceptions must show proof of vaccination or have a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than 48 hours before the visit.