North Carolina Hospitals Move To End Flu Visitor Restrictions

Some of the largest hospital systems in North Carolina are ending child visitor restrictions put in place to try to reduce the number of flu cases, just as the death toll for the season surpasses 300.

A number of hospital systems have announced that restrictions will end Friday morning after being implemented Jan. 12. The list includes Atrium Health, formerly Carolinas HealthCare System, Cone Health, High Point Regional, Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

"We feel it's appropriate to lift these temporary visitor restrictions now, since spending time with healthy loved ones, including children, is important for many of our patients," Larry Givner, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist, told the Winston-Salem Journal.

State health officials reported 29 more flu deaths in North Carolina. There were seven deaths for the week ending March 10, and 22 deaths from previous weeks which were determined to be flu-related.

Twice in February, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported 46 deaths in a single week.

"While we continue monitoring the influenza virus as it continues to circulate in our area, we've seen the rates decrease steadily in the past several weeks," Givner said.

The death toll for the year is 305, making it North Carolina's deadliest flu season in at least 10 years. Both the 2016-17 and the 2014-15 seasons had 218 flu deaths.

The flu season usually ends by the end of March.