Staff Reports
news@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Local hospital systems Novant Health, Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health, along with four other systems, on Wednesday implemented visitor restrictions to prevent the spread of respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 and the flu.

The restriction applies to Novant Health in Rowan and Forsyth counties.

The health systems are asking all visitors, aged 13 and older, who aren’t immediate family members to avoid visiting patients unless absolutely necessary, according to a news release. The restriction applies for healthy visitors, too, as an extra precaution for staff members, patients and their families.

The hospitals have already restricted visitors 12 years old and younger as a precaution against the spread of the flu, which will continue to remain in effect.

Any visitors, including family members, who are displaying flu-like symptoms will not be allowed, according to the news release.

Other hospital systems implementing the visitor restrictions include Blue Ridge Health, CaroMont Health, Cone Health and Randolph Health.

The restrictions follow Gov. Roy Cooper’s state of emergency for North Carolina, declared on Tuesday.

So far, according to North Carolina Health and Human Services, there have been seven cases identified in the state — six in Wake County and one in Chatham County.

Five of the seven were announced Monday night. The five had traveled to a BioGen conference in Boston in February, according to state officials.

The Indiana State Department of Health also notified North Carolina officials that a person who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday was in Durham and Wake counties March 2 through 6 while symptomatic. The person is in isolation at home in Indiana.

On March 3, the state health department announced it had the capability to test for COVID-19 throughout the state. The number of positive tests is expected to grow, according to state Secretary of Health Mandy Cohen. She said the state is expanding a COVID-19 task force to include representatives of hospitals, long-term care facilities and business.

“This is serious, but we have been preparing,” Cohen told legislators in a committee on Tuesday.

Access to testing kits remains a challenge, she said. The state health lab currently has enough supplies to test another 300 people.

The coronavirus is a family of viruses that can affect humans and animals. Symptoms mimic a common cold — including fever, cough and trouble breathing — that can lead to diseases such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) or the recent COVID-19 that was discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. COVID-19 is the name of the disease caused by the new virus.

For more information about the coronavirus, visit cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.