The Essentia Health – St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd has issued a restriction on visitors due to the spike in flu cases that have resulted in visits to the emergency room “in the past couple of weeks.”

The hospital is asking that visitors be restricted to “immediate family only, due to high levels of influenza and influenza like illness. To protect our patients and children in our community, we request children do not visit at this time,” according to a statement from the center.

The statement also listed precautions that one can take to prevent from getting and spreading the flu, including washing your hands and covering your mouth and nose. Of course, they say the best way to prevent from getting the flu, is to get a flu shot.

For more information on the flu and how to prevent it, you can check out the report that Lakeland News did earlier this month.

By — Clayton Castle