PARIS – Influenza is responsible for a closed-door policy at the Market Square Health Care Center that has prevented some residents from visiting loved ones over the holidays.

Not even immediate family members have been admitted into the nursing home and care facility since Christmas Eve, Western Maine Health spokeswoman Tracey Geary confirmed Thursday. Western Maine Health owns the facility.

“It could be up to another week because you need to stay closed at least 48 hours after the last case,” Geary said.

She also said one resident of the facility has tested positive for Type-A influenza, and another 16 patients have displayed flu-like symptoms, but several test results have not been reported.

“I’m being told that the patients who are sick are responding very well to treatment,” Geary said. Most, she added, recover within three days.

Market Square Health Care Center is the only facility in the area that has reported an influenza outbreak to the Maine Bureau of Health, spokesman Mike Norton said Wednesday. A similar outbreak has occurred at a care facility in Lincoln County.

While banning all visitors from a nursing home and rehabilitation facility may seem extreme, it also may be prudent, Norton said. “For older people, (influenza) definitely is a life-threatening illness.”

The flu may have contributed two deaths at the Cove’s Edge nursing facility in Damariscotta, according to spokesman Scott Shott. The facility is owned by Western Maine Health affiliate Miles Health Care.

Shott said the first influenza case was reported at the facility Nov. 29, and the last Dec. 5. There were four confirmed cases of influenza by the end of the outbreak, he said, and 25 patients at the facility experienced flu-like symptoms. Those who died were in declining health, he said.

The facility’s response was not quite as strict as Market Square Health Care’s.

“I think we closed the door to all but family members and their family members were encouraged to visit (only) their loved ones,” Shott said. Visitors also were encouraged to take precautions such as wearing medical masks over their mouths and washing their hands, he said. Community activities within the care facility were halted during the outbreak.

Such precautions are similar to those followed at local facilities, such as the Norway Rehabilitation and Living Center and the Maine Veterans’ Home in Paris. So far, both facilities are influenza-free.

“We’re just being very careful,” said Julie Hermans, director of nursing for the Rehabilitation and Living Center. Hand washing is encouraged and sick employees are told not to come in, she said.

“We do have a sign about keeping your cough and your cold at home,” Hermans said.

Megan Curtis, head receptionist at the Maine Veterans’ Home, said their sign encourages even those with slight colds to “visit another day.”

Mary Smith, a Paris resident whose mother is in a physical rehabilitation program at the Market Square Health Care Center, said Thursday that she understands the need to be cautious.

“I do have some views that it was disappointing to family members, particularly because my mom is there for rehab, so she’s a very alert person,” Smith said. Because of the policy, her mother spent Christmas day alone while her children and grandchildren celebrated the holidays nearby.

However, Smith said, “I realized it was holiday time, but I also realized, to keep the patients flu-free, it needed to be done.”

Geary said the facility was closed to visitors for a week last year because of a similar outbreak.