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.