Young people now have an excuse to not visit friends and relatives in the hospital.

As of Thursday, West Georgia Medical Center barred people 19 and younger from visiting at the hospital because they’re more likely to have the flu. They’ll make an exception if the young person has to be treated for an illness or injury.

The hospital previously had age restrictions only in the emergency department, and labor and delivery areas because the flu can be more dangerous for pregnant women.

“Flu cases have been significant enough that we felt segregation is needed,” said Bonnie Norrick, infection control manager at West Georgia Health System. “It’s a way of controlling the spread of germs. The younger population has the flu we’re seeing.”

The hospital has tested 1,008 patient samples for the flu since Aug. 15, and 240 were positive, said spokeswoman Patricia Rogers. Most of the affected patients were younger than 14, she said.

Most of them likely had swine flu because “seasonal flu doesn’t start up until October,” Norrick said. “Since we’re seeing it early, we’re suspecting that’s what it is.”

Emergency room visits at West Georgia Medical Center are up about 35 percent in recent weeks, mostly due to flulike symptoms such as fever, coughing, sore throat, and muscle and body aches, said ER director Randy Calhoun.

“On average, we see about 140 patients per day in the Emergency Department,” he said. “For the past three weeks, we’ve been seeing an average of 190 patients a day, and some days it’s been over 200. That increase is directly related to the flu.”

Hayla Hall, a spokeswoman for District 4 Health Services, said a 36-year-old Troup County woman with underlying health conditions recently died from the flu, but Hall didn’t know if it was swine flu. Hall said the woman had been a patient at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, but she didn’t know if the woman died there.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.