PeopleMoverMethodistHospital-800x0_20110816112736_JPG

FILE PHOTO (Courtesy: IU Health)

Flu sparks hospital restrictions in Marion County

Updated: Wednesday, 16 Jan 2013, 10:25 AM EST
Published : Wednesday, 16 Jan 2013, 7:11 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Marion County hospitals are restricting visitors after a large spike in patients with influenza symptoms.

Two flu deaths were reported in the county on Wednesday — both adults.

The Marion County Health Department said Wednesday morning that hospitals had 403 emergency room visits from Jan. 6-12 from people with influenza symptoms. That is a 69 percent increase from the previous week.

ONLINE EXTRA | Find the flu vaccine near you

Effective Friday, Jan. 18, Marion County hospitals will implement the following restrictions when it comes to patient visitation:

No visitors with influenza-like illnesses, fever or cough
No visitors under the age of 18 unless special arrangement are made
No visitors allowed beyond immediate family members, partner or significant other.

The policy was developed in 2009 during the H1N1 outbreak. This is only the second time for activating these restrictions.

Comments

Comments WLFI.com is migrating to a more stable commenting system called DISQUS. This system is used by CNN, TIME, FOX News, numerous blogging sites and has over 75 Million registered users. Unfortunately we can't migrate our current user accounts to this new system.

To sign up for a DISQUS account, click the DISQUS button just below and to the right and then click Login.

DISQUS lets you login with several different options, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo or OpenID. We expect it to allow more conversation and better moderation. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.