Hospitals at both ends of the country have made temporary changes to who can visit patients and when, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid has hit patients at Dargaville Hospital’s general ward, the second Northland hospital to be struck by the virus in less than a week.
The hospital is implementing infection control measures, including closing the ward to visitors and informing patients’ whānau, service manager Jen Thomas said.
The same measures were taken at Whangārei Hospital’s ward 1, an orthopaedic ward, last Thursday after an unknown number of patients tested positive for the virus.
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Meanwhile, Canterbury health district hospitals are tightening visitor rules as they deal with Covid-19 and flu cases. The changes include a strict “no mask, no entry” policy, and shorter visiting hours.
Children and young people under the age of 16 will not be allowed to visit from Wednesday morning, except under compassionate grounds.
The Covid-19 infection in Northland hospitals was thought to have been brought in by visitors or staff who had no symptoms.
Both wards will remain closed to visitors until a review on Thursday, while visitors to other wards are being urged not to come in if they are unwell.
A spike in Covid-19 infections has forced both Whangārei and Dargaville hospitals to close a ward to visitors and step-up infection control measures. (File photo)
Northland has significant community spread of Covid-19, with more than 220 new cases reported each day in the past week.
On Tuesday, there were 247 new cases and 14 people in hospital with the virus – although this includes infected patients on the two wards.
People need to remain vigilant, said Thomas, who is from Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau, formerly Northland District Health Board.
“While most people who are healthy and vaccinated will have a milder illness, COVID-19 is potentially more dangerous for people who are unwell and already in hospital,” she said.
Various other infection control measures remain in place at the hospitals, including the use of N95 masks and isolation of infected patients, incident controller Sarah Hoyle said.
“New patients admitted to ward 1 [at Whangārei Hospital] are being placed in an area away from Covid-19 positive patients,” she said.
Hoyle said all Northland hospitals continue to have visiting restrictions in place, including asking people to stay away if they are sick.
The visitor policy at the orange traffic light setting includes patients nominating just two people to visit and those visitors coming at separate times of the day.
Well visitors must wear a surgical or medical mask unless they have an exemption.
Visitors must also keep a physical distance of at least 1m.
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