Several local hospitals are modifying their visitation rules in response to the spread of H1N1 and seasonal flu in Massachusetts.
At Winchester Hospital, Lawrence General Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford, and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, only people age 18 and older are permitted to visit patients.
Anyone visiting an H1N1 patient at Lawrence General Hospital must wear a mask and should not wander around the hospital, said Barbara Keller, a hospital spokeswoman.
Melrose-Wakefield and Lawrence Memorial are urging adults to postpone visits if they have been around children with flu symptoms or experience symptoms themselves. The restrictions take effect Monday, according to the hospitals.
At Lowell General Hospital, visitors under age 14 are prohibited, except for children and siblings of patients. In the special care nursery, visitors under age 18 are prohibited except siblings, said hospital spokeswoman Christine Scaplen.
Visitors to North Shore Medical Center’s emergency department, pediatric inpatient unit, special care nursery, and birthplace center must complete a questionnaire to determine if they are healthy enough to visit.
Those under 18 will not be permitted in pediatrics areas or the special care nursery, although healthy siblings may visit with parental supervision. There also are limits on the number of visitors at a bedside, according to a press release from the hospital.
At Beverly Hospital, BayRidge Hospital in Lynn, and Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, visitors with flu-like symptoms cannot see patients. Anyone under age 18 cannot visit patients in Beverly Hospital’s North Shore Birth Center, labor and delivery area, maternity and newborn nursery, special care nursery, or inpatient pediatric rooms on Johnson Floor 5, said Heather Jones, a spokeswoman for the hospitals.
Visitors at all hospitals are asked to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer when entering and leaving a patient’s room and cough or sneeze into the bend of their elbow.
The new rules are based on recommendations from the state Department of Public Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BRIAN BENSON and BELLA TRAVAGLINI 
