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Marion County hospitals will have temporary restrictions, due to high levels of flu

Posted at 3:48 PM, Jan 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-08 15:56:35-05

INDIANAPOLIS — Hospitals across Indiana are seeing high level of flu activity — including Marion County.

Marion County Public Health Department is requesting that hospitals in Marion County begin temporary restrictions for visitors.

No later than Friday, hospitals of all major health systems in Marion County have agreed to begin visitor restrictions.

These restrictions include, but are not limited to:

  • No visitors with symptoms of influenza.
  • No visitors under the age of 18.
  • Visitors limited to immediate family as identified by the patient.

Hospitals participating in the visitor restrictions include: Community Helath Network, Franciscan Health Indianapolis, St. Vincent, Peyton Manning Children's Hospital and Indiana University Health, including Riley Hospital, Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Richard L. Roudebush V.A. Medical Center.

During the last week of December, Marion County emergency room visits related to influenza-like illness was at 2.70% — this is considered high. This was mostly among children ages 0-4 years old.

Individuals who are at the highest risk for experiencing complications of influenza include:

  • Children less than two years old and adults older than 65.
  • Individuals who are immunocompromised.
  • Individuals with chronic pulmonary, cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, hematological, and metabolic disorders.
  • Individuals who are obese.
  • Women who are pregnant or during the first two weeks after giving birth.

Thirteen flu-related deaths have been reported nationally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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