© 2025 WFAE

Mailing Address:
WFAE 90.7
P.O. Box 896890
Charlotte, NC 28289-6890
Tax ID: 56-1803808
90.7 Charlotte 93.7 Southern Pines 90.3 Hickory 106.1 Laurinburg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

More health care systems restrict visitors over respiratory virus concerns

Iredell Memorial Hospital is the latest medical facility to restrict visitors during a surge of respiratory illness around North Carolina. Starting Wednesday, children under the age of 14 won’t be allowed to visit patients.

Viruses including influenza, RSV and COVID-19 have caused several North Carolina health systems to try and stop the spread within their hospitals.

In the Piedmont, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, CaroMont Health, Cone Health and Novant Health have implemented visitor restrictions for children 12 and under.

Dr. Christopher Ohl, an infectious diseases expert at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, says cases in the area are high, but he’s not seeing anything out of the ordinary for the cold and flu season. But he did say there are more cases of the flu this year than in any other year since the pandemic.

"It’s keeping our emergency rooms busy, it’s keeping our hospitals busy. Not anything that can’t be handled in the region, but every year during respiratory viral season we have more admissions, and this year is no different," he said.

According to the North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard, hospital admissions related to viruses like the flu and COVID-19 have also been on the rise. During the last week of November, the number of admissions was 989. In the first week of January, that figure was over 2,000.

Woody is a Charlotte native who came to WFAE from the world of NASCAR where he was host of NASCAR Today for MRN Radio as well as a pit reporter, turn announcer and host of the NASCAR Live pre race show for Cup Series races. Before that, he was a news anchor at WBT radio in Charlotte, a traffic reporter, editor of The Charlotte Observer’s University City Magazine, News/Sports Director at WEGO-AM in Concord and a Swiss Army knife in local cable television. His first job after graduating from Appalachian State University was news reporter at The Daily Independent in Kannapolis. Along the way he’s covered everything from murder trials and a national political convention to high school sports and minor league baseball.