Beaches Turks & Caicos delays reopening after norovirus confirmation

Beaches Turks and Caicos Resort and Spa has postponed its reopening until June 13 after confirmation from the Ministry of Health that 10 cases of norovirus have been confirmed.

The country’s largest resort located on Providenciales had announced June 3 that it stopped accepting reservations until June 9 after guests and employees were stricken.

Norovirus can be transmitted from person to person through contact with vomitus or feces of infected individuals, consumption of contaminated food or water, contact with soiled surfaces and bed linens and other items. Other than supportive therapy, norovirus usually requires little by way of medical interventions and usually resolves without incident.

The resort said 39 people (1.35 percent) of guests and staff complained of the illness in the week beginning May 21, and 94 people (3.15 percent) reported the symptoms during the following week.

“The comprehensive disinfection includes a complete sterilization of all public areas, complete stripping and sterilizing of all accommodations, sterilizing of all cushions, mattresses and couches, the removal and isolated sterilization of all linen, curtain and drapes as well as the quarantining of all rooms to ensure that no traces of the virus remain,” Beaches said in the statement.