Blue Ridge HealthCare has lifted the temporary restrictions it implemented in October at Grace and Valdese hospitals for visitors 18 years and younger.
The restrictions, a recommendation of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were a precautionary measure to protect patients, employees and visitors from the H1N1 flu.
Blue Ridge Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs Lee Rodgers said, "We appreciate the cooperation from the public in keeping children under 18 away from the hospital."
Visitors are advised to continue exercising good judgment and refrain from visiting people in the hospital if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
Burke County Health Department Director David Rust said the area has had an exceptionally large number of H1N1 cases, but that number has dropped recently.
Because the county does not require doctors to report every case of the flu, it's hard to put a specific number on the amount of people who had the illness, Rust said.
There is a possibility of another wave of the flu, Rust said. Normally the flu season runs into March or April, but H1N1 is unpredictable.
"This is a pandemic," Rust said. "Although it's a flu illness, it's still a different creature. If there is going to be another wave, it can happen in the spring or summer.
"Now, what we hope happens is we get enough people vaccinated in the population at large that it makes it difficult for that third wave to occur."
Rust and Blue Ridge recommend that anyone who has not received the flu vaccine get it.
Blue Ridge may implement the restrictions again if the seasonal or H1N1 flu makes another surge.
The Burke County Health Department is still offering flu clinics. The next clinics are from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday at the Morganton-Burke Senior Center, 501 N. Green St., and from 8:30 until 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Jonas Ridge Fire Department, 8224 Buckeye Hollow Road, Jonas Ridge. The vaccine is free.
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