OGDENSBURG - As the flu continues to sweep St. Lawrence County Claxton-Hepburn Medical Campus had to temporarily divert patients, but stopped Wednesday morning.

“When the diversion was in place, it was limited to inpatient bed capacity and did not impact either our Mental Health Unit or our Emergency Department, which remained open. The diversion was driven by increased flu and upper respiratory illnesses, and we had admitted patients to the full capacity of our licensed inpatient beds. While on diversion, our staff and leadership continuously re-evaluated the status in coordination with our Operations Center and reported updates to the state in accordance with New York State guidelines,” a spokesperson for the hospital said.

“We remain committed to providing timely, quality driven care for our community, and we will continue to monitor capacity to ensure patients can access the services they need. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.”

North Star Health Alliance CEO Richard Duvall confirmed the situation Tuesday afternoon. He said the hospitalizations were due mainly to upper respiratory and flu cases.

Schools, hospitals and major employers have been dealing with a large uptick in flu cases, according to local health officials.

Statewide flu hospitalizations are up as well.

The situation will be monitored closely.

Duvall said it is unrelated to the situation involving stalled state funding