Fayetteville hospital to limit visitors to keep flu from spreading

Children under 12 will not be allowed to visit patients in the hospital, and officials will also limit visitors to one per patient in the emergency department.

Hospital officials urged those experiencing flu-like symptoms to refrain from visiting the facility, which is on Roxie Avenue in southwest Fayetteville. 

Cases of the flu jumped in North Carolina in December, and 13 people have died from the flu virus, according to data from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Five of those deaths occurred in the last week of 2013.

Of the 13 flu deaths in the state, all but one have been younger than age 65. Seven were between 25 and 49; five were between 50 and 64. At the same point last year, 18 people had died of the virus.

Other major hospital systems – UNC, Duke and Rex – are also restricting visitors with cough, fever and other flu-like symptoms.

Flu symptoms