SASKATOON – St. Paul’s Hospital is now closed to all visitors after a continued outbreak and spreading of what’s suspected to be Norwalk virus.
Two wings were closed to visitors last week after almost 30 people, mostly patients and a few staff members, fell will with a gastrointestinal illness.
More new cases of diarrhea and vomiting were reported among patients and staff on Tuesday, prompting the health region to take further measures.
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“We made the decision then that we needed to close the hospital to visitors to restrict that movement as absolutely much as possible so we could get this under control,” said Jean Morrison, president and CEO of St. Paul’s.
Special arrangements will be made for relatives to visit a family member in palliative care.
Five surgeries scheduled for today have been cancelled but urgent surgeries will proceed.
The emergency department remains open, but officials urge people to use it only for true emergencies.
The hospital will need to go four days without a new case before officials consider when to open the doors again.
Although often associated with food handling, Norwalk-like viruses can spread in close-quarters and shared washrooms.
“People really need to be vigilant about hand-washing before and after they eat, after being out in public, and after going to the bathroom because we really don’t want this to continue spreading into Christmas,” said Morrison.
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