COVID-19 Facts and Resources

When you visit Dana-Farber's main campus (450 Brookline Ave.) or our new Chestnut Hill location, we’ll ask you to use an online app on your smartphone as part of the screening process when you enter the building. Everyone who comes to Dana-Farber is screened for COVID-19 symptoms before they enter. Before you arrive at these locations, visit the app and answer its screening questions to get a digital pass that you can show when you enter. 

To ensure the safety of our patients and staff, we continue to monitor the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and to proactively ensure that our patients and workforce remain safe and protected. When you arrive, you will be directed to the Yawkey Center lobby for screening, where you will be asked whether you have any of the following symptoms:

• Fever or feeling feverish
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of taste or smell
• Nausea
• Nasal congestion or runny nose
• Sore throat
• Muscle aches
• Rash

If you do have these symptoms and need to be seen for your appointment, we will help you take steps to ensure that we can see you in a way that is safe not just for you, but for other patients and our staff members. Please note that all patients are screened only in the Yawkey building, even if your scheduled appointment is in the Dana building. Pre-screenings over the phone will not take the place of the in-person screening. If you have questions or concerns about this or you have any symptoms of respiratory infection, please call your care team before you come to Dana-Farber.

Patient Companions at Dana-Farber

To protect the health and safety of our patients and staff, we still have limits on companions accompanying patients at Dana-Farber. Most adult patients are currently not allowed to bring a companion during their visit, with limited exceptions to help reduce the number of people on-site:

• New adult patients may bring one healthy adult companion to their first in-person visit with their Dana-Farber doctor.
• Adult patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) may bring one healthy adult companion to any appointment.
• Pediatric patients can have one healthy adult companion.
• Adult inpatients in the inpatient hospital can have one healthy adult visitor.
• Other very limited exceptions may also be allowed for patients with significant physical or cognitive disabilities.

If there is not enough space for needed physical distancing in a patient care area, the patient companion may be asked to wait in a designated area until the patient's appointment is complete.

We encourage adult patients who can't bring a companion to use a smartphone or other mobile device to video call a friend or loved one when meeting with their care team. This can be a good way for a companion to participate in the visit by asking questions, taking notes, and providing support. Wireless internet access is available in all patient care areas.

We know that these steps may be difficult for our patients and their loved ones, and we don't take them lightly. These limits are critical to the physical distancing requirements needed to keep us all safe.

If You Have Received a COVID-19 Vaccine

Persons who have received a COVID-19 vaccine must still follow our patient companion limits. As we learn more about how the vaccines protect us under real-life conditions, it is still important for everyone to follow best practices for preventing spread of the virus. This includes wearing a facemask, washing hands often, and physical distancing.

Prior to Your Appointment

All people entering Dana-Farber will be screened for symptoms of coronavirus, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, nausea, nasal congestion, sore throat, body aches, or rash.

If you have symptoms of a cold or flu (cough, fever, difficulty breathing, nasal congestion, rash, body aches, chills, nausea, or sore throat), please call your Dana-Farber doctor’s office before you come in.

Please Be Aware of Your Arrival Time

Please do not arrive more than 20 minutes before your first scheduled appointment when you need to visit Dana-Farber in person. This helps reduce the number of people in the building and ensures safe physical distancing throughout the facility. If you arrive too early, we may need to direct you to a waiting area after you complete the screening process.

Waiting Area for Companions

For companions not accompanying you to your appointment, we offer a cellphone waiting lot where the person who drives you to your appointment can park or wait.

When you drive to Dana-Farber for an appointment, enter the Yawkey Center parking garage and go to level P1.

• On level P1, a member of our parking staff will make sure you have everything you need to safely get to your appointment, whether that means help getting to your check-in desk or an assistive device, such as a wheelchair.
• The person who drives you to your appointment will get printed directions to a nearby cellphone lot, where he or she can wait or park.
• The cellphone lot has robust cell service, and we encourage you to keep in touch by phone or a video-calling app. We know that loved ones are a vital part of the healing process, and we encourage them to electronically join the patient's appointment.

Restrooms are located on level P1 of the parking garage and you can return at any time to use them after dropping off a patient. There are also restroom facilities at Target (1341 Boylston St.) and Star Market (1358 Boylston St.) in the Fenway area.

Nearby Food Options

• Many restaurants are open for takeout at the intersection of Longwood and Brookline Avenues, a short walk away from Dana-Farber and the cellphone waiting lot. Some locations offer distanced seating options, including restaurants in the Longwood Galleria Food Court (350 Longwood Ave.).
• Nearby grocery options include Target (1341 Boylston St.) and Star Market (1358 Boylston St.).

Outdoor Activities

In good weather, you may want to consider taking a walk along the nearby Riverway Park. Similarly, a limited number of outdoor benches are at Joslin Park, located on Brookline Avenue across the street from Dana-Farber's Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. There are also several suggested walking tours in the Longwood Medical Area that you may find interesting. As always, be sure to maintain physical distancing when out in public and stay at least 6 feet away from others.

When you drive a patient to an appointment at Dana-Farber, please enter Dana-Farber’s parking garage on Jimmy Fund Way and go to level P1. You will not be charged any parking fees for dropping off or picking up, and we have staff on level P1 to help patients safely get to their appointments.

Entering Dana-Farber’s parking garage to drop off and pick up reduces traffic backups on Jimmy Fund Way, improves traffic flow on Brookline Ave., and ensures a safe location where patients can get in and out of vehicles. It typically takes just a few minutes to enter and exit the garage when picking up or dropping off.

Thank you for your cooperation and help!

Having cancer may increase your risk for many illnesses because cancer treatment can weaken your immune system. Please be sure that you and your loved ones take steps to prevent infection:

• Wash your hands often, for at least 20 seconds. Use soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Discard the tissue and clean your hands. If a tissue is not available, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve.
• Maintain physical distance. This means you should avoid contact with other people and keep a distance of at least six feet between yourself and others.
• Do not shake hands with others.
• Avoid direct contact with people who are sick.

Mask Policy for Patients

We have implemented a mask policy for all patients in both our adult and pediatric clinics. When patients arrive for screening each day, they will be provided with a face mask (if they do not have their own), which they will wear throughout their time in any of Dana-Farber's buildings. This new requirement includes any required visitors and will reinforce our current policies and procedures to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

We are actively monitoring for COVID-19 to ensure the safety of our patients and staff. Some of our many precautions include:

• Screening patients for possible COVID-19 infection
• All members of the Dana-Farber workforce arriving for work at the Longwood campus and at our satellite locations are being screened and receive a sticker to wear indicating they’ve been screened. Workforce members will be required to be screened when they arrive each day.
• All members of your care team at Dana-Farber are required to wear protective face masks while at work to help further protect our patients.
• All patients are required to wear a face mask throughout their time in any of Dana-Farber's buildings.
• Reconfiguring Dining Pavilion seating to allow for recommended physical distancing.
• Restricting incoming business or community visitors to our campuses.
• Cancelling all business travel, domestic and international, for faculty and staff.
• Observing standards for staff use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Find out more about how we're keeping you safe during this challenging time.

In order to limit the number of people at Dana-Farber, some of our programs and services have been moved online, some have changed, and some are temporarily closed at this time.

• The Friends' Place health boutique is currently open by appointment only. Please call 617-632-2211 if you need to schedule an appointment for a compression garment, wig fitting, breast prosthesis, bra fitting, or other service.
• The following locations are closed at this time (but find out about our online programs in the section that follows):
  • Blum Patient and Family Resource Center
  • Friends' Corner Gift Shop
  • Shapiro Center for Patients and Families
  • Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living
• Seating in the Lavine Family Dining Pavilion has been reconfigured for physical distancing. The salad bar and deli are closed until further notice; most food servings are pre-packaged; and some menu offerings have been reduced to improve service and reduce lines.
• All Dana-Farber volunteers have been asked to suspend activities and will not be at the Institute until further notice.
• If you plan to park at Dana-Farber, please note that only self-parking is available at this time — no valet parking. However, parking attendants are helping as needed with wheelchairs and similar assistance.

For the safety of our patients and staff, we have canceled all in-person classes, events, and support groups at this time. However, to provide a space for stress relief, connection, and resource information, Dana-Farber is offering select resources, services, and workshops online.

• The Zakim Center's programs in yoga, mindfulness, and other topics are available online. You can review the Center's Program Calendar to see online class offerings.
• The Blum Resource Center is offering Spirituality and Cancer, Managing Your Finances, and Help with Insomnia After Treatment workshops and programs online. You can view the monthly Calendar and the Blum Resource Center webpage for more information.
• One-to-One is a telephone support program that connects our trained volunteers with patients and caregivers who would like support from a peer. To request a mentor, patients and caregivers can fill out a referral form.
• Dana-Farber's Young Adult Program (YAP) invites young adult patients (age 18-39) treated in adult oncology to download the "iaya" smartphone app. YAP will also be hosting an online support group and Twitter chats. For more information about online programming and to obtain an access code for the app, please email yap@dfci.harvard.edu or call 617-632-6819.