In an effort to reduce the spread of the respiratory flu, healthcare facilities are implementing visitor restrictions.
At least one of the twenty-two Intermountain Healthcare hospitals in Utah will limit who can visit patients in any obstetric, pediatric, or newborn unit.
Neil Perkes is chief nursing officer at Logan Regional Hospital which announced that beginning Tuesday at 11 p.m. the hospital will be closing those units to any visitors who are sick, regardless of age
“Those people are more susceptible to contracting the flu and we just want to prevent illness to those people that might be at risk in those areas,” said Perkes.
All Non-sibling visitors under the age of 12 will be prohibited from visiting children and newborn patients.
“We haven’t seen much flu in our area, but we have seen an increase in confirmed cases that have gone sharply upward in other areas of the state so Intermountain has chosen to implement these restriction across the system in hopes of preventing problems for both our patients and our employees,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging the public to get vaccinated each year, stay home when suffering from flu, and to clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work or school in order to reduce the spread of this season’s respiratory flu.
