The flu season is getting worse, and to fight the spread of the virus, hospitals across the state are implementing visitor restrictions.
In Bloomington, IU Health spokesperson Amanda Roach says IU Health began visiting restrictions this week and those will continue indefinitely.
"From Friday to today, the lab here at the hospital has had 89 positive flu tests and so on Monday this week we put the restrictions in place," Roach says. "And as part of IU Health we worked with the whole system because we're seeing numbers across the state increasing."
Other hospitals are following suit. In Columbus, restrictions started Wednesday at Columbus Regional Health hospital. And, all major hospitals in Indianapolis began limiting visitors at the director of the Marion County Health Department‘s request.
The restrictions include not allowing anyone under the age of 18 to visit patients and keeping out anyone exhibiting flu symptoms.
The visitor restrictions began in 2009 with the spread of H1N1 and have been in place every year since.