The active flu season has many Triad hospitals implementing temporary visitor restrictions Friday morning. At 7 a.m. on Jan. 12, Wake Forest Baptist, Cone Health and Novant Health medical facilities will put in restrictions that will remain through the rest of flu season. UNC Health Care put in the same restrictions on Jan. 16.
The restrictions apply to Triad Wake Forest Baptist inpatient locations in:
- Lexington
- Davie County
- Wilkes County
- Winston-Salem
Cone Health locations impacted:
- Alamance Regional Medical
- Center Annie Penn Hospital
- Cone Health Behavior Health Hospital
- The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
- Wesley Long Hospital and Women’s Hospital
Novant Health locations impacted:
- Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center
- Novant Health Charlotte Orthopedic Hospital
- Novant Health Clemmons Medical Center
- Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center
- Novant Health Hemby Children’s Hospital
- Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center
- Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center
- Novant Health Matthews Medical Center
- Novant Health Medical Park Hospital
- Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center
- Novant Health Rowan Medical Center
- Novant Health Thomasville Medical Center
- Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center
- Novant Health UVA Health System Haymarket Medical Center
UNC Health Care locations include:
- UNC Rockingham Health Care
- UNC REX Health Care
- Chatham Hospital
- Johnston Health
- Pardee Hospital
- High Point Regional Health
- Caldwell Memorial
- Nash Health Care
- Wayne Memorial
- UNC Lenoir Health Care
Children age 12 and under may not visit patients in any of the facilities. Exceptions for extenuating family circumstances may be allowed, but parents or guardians are asked to get permission from the patient’s nurse to allow children to visit.
Healthy adult visitors and healthy family members age 13 and older are welcome to visit patients. All visitors and family members should be healthy – free from fever, cough, colds, or stomach virus symptoms – in order to visit patients.
The temporary restrictions are in place because flu cases in the Triad have significantly gone up. Visitor restrictions can help control the spread of the virus.
The facilities continue to monitor the flu rates daily and will take appropriate steps to restrict visitors further, if needed, or lift the restrictions when the flu cases decrease.
The decision to enact temporary visitor restrictions is a synchronized effort among six regional health systems: Carolinas Healthcare System, Cone Health, High Point Regional, Novant Health, Randolph Health and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. These health systems will enact visitor restrictions at the same time because they share the same geographic area and have similar rates of flu in the community.
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