As flu season winds down, hospitals across Virginia are relaxing visitation rules. VCU Health Systems, Bon Secours, and Centra Health are all lifting flu season visitation guidelines that have kept kids and sick people out of patients’ rooms.
According to a weekly report from the Virginia Department of Health, flu related visits to emergency rooms spiked in mid February. They’ve been on the decline ever since.
“We probably won’t see a return to true normalcy for a couple more weeks,” says Em Stephens, an epidemiologist with the VDH. “It’s still really important to practice the good hand hygiene, so make sure you’re washing your hands. Still really relevant to make sure that you’re staying at home if you’re feeling ill.”
Stephens says the flu season was worse than normal this year, but not as bad as it was during the 2009 swine flu epidemic.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
