Virus kills 6 children at hospital in New Jersey

Children at the Wanaque Centre are long-term care residents

The New Jersey Department of Health is working to contain a severe viral outbreak at a paediatric centre that has left six children dead and 12 others infected.

The state has barred the facility, the Wanaque Centre for Nursing and Rehabilitation, from accepting new patients until the outbreak is contained. Children at the Wanaque Centre in northern New Jersey are paediatric long-term care residents, with some reliant on ventilators and tracheal tubes.

It was not clear when the children died, and though the department declined to release their ages, it said that the 18 people stricken with the virus ranged from a toddler to a young adult and that most were under 18. The Health Department said it was conducting an investigation at the centre, which has been cited in the past for health code violations.

“The New Jersey Department of Health was notified by the facility on October 9, 2018, of some respiratory illnesses,” said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the department.