BEATRICE - Like every hospital in the country, Beatrice Community Hospital and Health Center is doing everything in their power to protect their patients and staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

BCH has assembled a task force of staff members who meet several times a week to review their safety policies and to brainstorm ideas. The hospital has canceled all of their upcoming events and have reduced visitation to one visitor per patient room.

"We're putting into place those policies so that when a patient is diagnosed with COVID-19 and they're here at our hospital, that we have the skills and the resources available to take care of them," said Diane Vicars, the head of public relations at BCH. "We would put them into one of our beds at the hospital, and we would care for them just as we would care for anybody else who has any other illness."

BCH has 25 beds available. The hospital is also looking to further monitor their visitation limits by screening everyone to see if they're healthy enough to be in the hospital.

BCH is also trying to limit elective surgeries or any procedures that are deemed non-essential. To date, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Beatrice, Gage County or its bordering counties.