Hospitals launch anti-flu measures

Temporary rules include 2 callers per room, no kids under 12

Seven area hospitals have implemented temporary guidelines for visitors that are meant to limit patient exposure to the flu, and more facilities plan to start the measures soon. The temporary policy change comes in response to Thursday’s announcement by the state health commissioner that the viral illness is prevalent in some communities in the state.

Hospitals starting the restrictions immediately include St. Peter’s Health Partners’ acute-care hospitals Albany Memorial and St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, Samaritan and St. Mary’s in Troy and Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Schenectady, as well as Ellis Medicine’s acute-care hospitals including Bellevue Woman’s Center in Schenectady.

Others regionally that plan to implement the measures in the coming days or weeks include Albany Medical Center in Albany, St. Mary’s Healthcare in Amsterdam, Columbia Memorial in Hudson and Saratoga Hospital in Saraoga Springs.

The restrictions include the following:

■ A maximum of two visitors are permitted in a patient’s room at any one time.

■ Children 12 and younger are prohibited from visiting patients’ rooms, as they are more likely to have and transmit respiratory infections.

■ Visitors with rash, diarrhea or respiratory symptoms are prohibited from visiting patients. These symptoms include fever, sore throat, cough and shortness of breath.

■ The hospitals urge all visitors to use hand-washing stations before entering and upon leaving a patient’s room.

■ Hand sanitizers are available at many hospital entrances and at many other locations throughout these hospitals, including the doorways of many patient rooms.

■ Some hospitals have special care units or physical layouts which may have additional visitation restrictions or modifications.

The announcement of the measures was made Friday by St. Peter’s Health Partners.

Hospital officials advised that it is still important to get the flu vaccine, as it offers protection against other circulating strains and will reduce the likelihood of severe illness.

The same guidelines announced Friday were developed and temporarily implemented in previous years to address influenza outbreaks. The temporary restrictions are intended to help limit the transmission of the virus and protect the health and safety of patients and the professionals who provide their care during the outbreak, officials said.

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker announced Thursday that 1,230 cases of the flu had been confirmed statewide as of last weekend. Influenza and its complications have led to 923 hospitalizations across the state so far and one child’s death, Zucker said.

Flu season occurs primarily from October through May, often peaking in February.

The number of cases confirmed at labs in New York so far this season outpaces cases from the same time last year, when there were 891 cases confirmed as of Dec. 15. Last year’s season, which was unusually vicious, peaked at 18,258 cases statewide as of Feb. 17. For comparison, previous seasons in New York peaked at 6,076 cases as of Feb. 11, 2017, and 6,422 cases as of March 12, 2016.

It was one of the deadliest in four decades. More than 80,000 Americans died of flu in the 2017-18 season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Saratoga County appears the hardest hit of all upstate counties this season with 28 cases confirmed. The Capital Region as a whole has had 77 cases confirmed.

New Yorkers can see how prevalent the flu is near them using a new flu tracking platform published on the NYS Health Connector website, https://nyshc.health.ny.gov/web/nyapd/ new-york-state-flu-tracker.

It includes a breakdown of confirmed cases by county, week and year dating back to 2015-16, making year-over-year comparisons possible.

It also shows which type of flu is prevalent (A, B or unspecified).

So far this year, 1,140 of the 1,230 confirmed cases around New York are Type A.