Visitor restrictions have begun at Mesa’s Banner Desert Medical Center and Cardon Children’s Hospital to protect patients from outside illness. Unlike last year, there are no age restrictions except in the neonatal intensive care unit, said spokeswoman Lindsay Butler Carrillo. Signs will be posted at entrances to the hospitals reminding visitors not to go into patient areas if they show signs of illness.
While there was a jump in the number of lab-confirmed flu cases in Arizona in the last reporting period, the disease is still not widespread. Across the state, there were about 450 lab-confirmed influenza cases as of Dec. 18.
