Detroit Medical Center is responding to a rise in respiratory illness cases by limiting visitors to its facilities, including the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
The temporary new guidelines, announced Thursday, Jan. 9, will allow up to two visitors per patient at any given time, and no visitors age 12 and younger. Visitors age 13 and older will be asked not to visit if they are experiencing illness or cold symptoms, including fever, cough and/or rash.
Dr. Teena Chopra, DMC’s director of infection prevention, said the restrictions are a tool they use annually to limit risk of further viral spread to patients and caregivers.
The recent rise in influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is noteworthy but not out of the ordinary following the holiday season when people are traveling and gathering indoors. Chopra called it an average cold and flu season so far.
“Like other southeast Michigan hospitals, we’re very busy in the emergency room with flu and RSV,” she said. “As soon as rates start coming down, we’ll remove these guidelines.”
RSV is a common virus that infections the respiratory tract, causing cold-like illness. It can lead to severe illness for infants and older adults if it causes difficulty breathing and/or high fever.
Michigan’s influenza-like illnesses activity level for the week ending Dec. 28 was “high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 14 states with a “high” level and 22 states with a “very high” level of activity as of the most recent surveillance period.
About 4.5% of outpatient health care visits in Michigan that week were for flu-like illness, which was up from 2.6% the week prior and marked the highest rate of the season. The latest national rate was 6.8%.
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-Detroit Medical Center has seen a particular rise in RSV cases among children, and flu among both adults and children. Chopra said there’s a clear distinction in severity among unvaccinated patients versus vaccinated.
Michigan hasn’t reported a flu-associated pediatric death this flu season. There have been 11 nationally, per the CDC.
Elsewhere around the state, a handful of major health systems said they didn’t have plans to enforce stricter visitor rules as of Thursday. Those included McLaren Health and University of Michigan Health-Sparrow.
Corewell Health said it was monitoring increases in respiratory viruses, including RSV and influenza, but hadn’t made any changes to its visitor policies as of Thursday afternoon. They did restrict visitors each of the last two years in response to viral increases in the community.
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It’s not too late to get yourself or your family vaccinated against influenza, COVID-19 and/or RSV. For more information, talk to your primary care physician or check out the vaccine finder at Michigan.gov.
As of Dec. 28, Michigan’s flu shot uptake — less than 2.5 million doses — sat far below its goal of 4 million doses administered. The state is behind where it was this time each of the last five years.
Dr. Chopra also reiterated the importance of washing your hands with soap and water, staying away from others if you’re feeling sick, and wearing a mask if you have to be around others while displaying symptoms.
