The outbreak of COVID-19 in Victorian aged care facilities continues to grow with more than 600 cases of the virus now connected to outbreaks in care homes around the state.
Addressing the growing aged care situation, Sutton explained that the outbreaks were a consequence of community transmission, noting that the outbreaks were overwhelmingly a case of a single or a couple of staff members spreading the infection.
Explaining that those infected in this environment are often at a significantly higher risk of dying, the chief medical officer said that the new case numbers of COVID-19 in aged care facilities were very challenging.
“There are now 84 cases tied to St Basil’s at Fawkner, 82 at Estia Health in Ardeer, 77 at Epping Gardens Aged Care, and 62 at Menarock Aged Care in Essendon,” said Sutton
Chronic Issues the Cause of the COVID-19 Aged Care Crisis
The President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr. Tony Bartone, said that the COVID-19 aged care crisis in Australia is a result of chronic issues with the industry.One of the most significant contributing factors to the high number of cases Bartone said was the movement of staff between multiple aged care facilities.
“There has been attention focused recently on trying to provide support to try to limit the movement of staff between clearly, but also the lack of trained appropriate aged care workers has been chronic in the industry,” said Bartone.
The bulk of the 161 deaths in Australia have been people aged over 70, including 67 residents in aged care services.
Explaining that the 2019 Royal Commission found that the sector needed more doctors and more nurses to deliver the appropriate clinical care that residents needed, Bartone said that COVID-19 had highlighted the critical lack of these resources.
“When we get an outbreak, we’re having to fly in specialist teams of doctors and nurses to bolster the resources at those facilities to ensure that we’re lifting that infection control to the highest level possible.”
“Unfortunately, it really comes down to having the redundancy in terms of that resourcing. So, if you’ve got staff members that are unwell, that can’t come into work, you need to replace them. In an already constrained environment, that puts additional stress on other measures that need to take place in terms of the clinical care.”
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, and Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Richard Colbeck, said the federal government-led centre would offer a clear and direct oversight to managing outbreaks.