Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Flying mermaid]

Possibly a staff member at a different nursing home in Melbourne has tested positive

Apparently 2 more facilities are being locked down due to shared staff. I thought that wasn’t allowed?

 

[jakeseven7]

Apparently 2 more facilities are being locked down due to shared staff. I thought that wasn’t allowed?

Federal government very quietly withdrew the funding to private aged care providers to make sure that this didn't happen (working across sites).

In the government-owned sites they still aren't allowed to work across multiple sites.

So guess they assumed they would have done the vaccination by now.... but haven't. So again, all fingers point back to the Feds.

What a mess.

 

[Lynda2475]

Apparently 2 more facilities are being locked down due to shared staff. I thought that wasn’t allowed?

Clearly complacency crept in and no one auditing to check that the recommendations off the back of last year cluster **** are actually being implemented.

It was also reported that staff are *now* wearing PPE - when did this stop? If you have had to keep wearing a mask on PT in Melbourne all this time, why not staff and visitors in aged care? Surely more important in aged care amongst the most at risk.

 

[jakeseven7]

Clearly complacency crept in and no one auditing to check that the recommendations off the back of last year cluster **** are actually being implemented.

No, the Federal government withdrew funding support to allow no sharing of staff in privately operated centres, across Australia....

Not complacency - penny-pinching and perhaps they thought their vaccination program would be much more advanced. Which it isn't.

 

[RooFlyer]

Reported aged care staff working across multiple facilities. Wasn’t that stopped way back? No doubt the Federal government is to blame

Edit: Snap! I knew it

 

[RooFlyer]

No, the Federal government withdrew funding support to allow no sharing of staff in privately operated centres, across Australia....

So they don’t do the right thing unless someone pays them to do it?

 

[Lynda2475]

Extra funding shouldn't be needed, they just need to reorganize schedules to stop using so many casual staff and transition to permanent, so each person gets more hours at one facility instead of working across multiple.

According the Victorian Parliament over 50% of aged care facilities in Vic are privately run and for profit, they need to invest more of that profit in improving their processes.

Many business have to comply with regulations without receiving a government hand out to do so.

 

[jakeseven7]

So they don’t do the right thing unless someone pays them to do it?

Exactly right, they are private companies, what do you expect. Its happening right now, all over Australia, has been on the news all morning.

 

[jakeseven7]

Many business have to comply with regulations without receiving a government hand out to do so.

The federal government didn't put in any law or regulation requiring them to do so, so what do they care..... Sad - but true.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Second Worker Case, this time at a Blue Cross Western Gardens Home Confirmed

Had worked at Maidstone, and so was tested. First test negative. Second test positive.

So hopefully not infectious when working.

 

[Lynda2475]

According to ABC Blog:

SA disappointed in state's testing numbers​

South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier is encouraging people in her state to get tested for COVID-19.

About 4,000 tests were conducted over the weekend.

And Dr Spurrier doesn't think that's enough.

"[In] Victoria they are having 40,000 to 50,000 people getting tested every day," she said.

"It is quite possible that we do have COVID in our community because of that traffic back and forth across the state.

"We did put our borders in place but this is a disease where things have occurred 14 days before."


Is it realistic to expect SA to get near Vic raw numbers? There is extra incentive to get tested in Vic atm because they have mystery cases in aged care not yet linked to a source, and are in lock down. Life is pretty much BAU is SA, you'd expect to see a boost in testing numbers but the state with active community cases is always going to see more testing than one without.

 

[RooFlyer]

Exactly right, they are private companies, what do you expect. Its happening right now, all over Australia, has been on the news all morning.

Hmmmm work for government, or private ? . Sorry, cheap shot but I don’t think governments are so pure either.

Have been on a drive this morning:

 

[dajop]

Second Worker Case, this time at a Blue Cross Western Gardens Home Confirmed

Had worked at Maidstone, and so was tested. First test negative. Second test positive.

So hopefully not infectious when working.

So that’s at least a fourth home.

The letter we saw (from my partner grandmothers aged care home) around the home being locked down and all residents being tested related to two different Freemasons homes.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

From ABC News:

1 resident at Maidstone and second worker confirmed positive at Maidstone.

Both have mild symptoms. (Edit Resident in her 90's has now been stated to be asymptomatic during the Vic Presser)

Resident transferred to hospital. (Presumably mainly more for better control by removing an infected person from the facility, and just in case things worsen)

 

[lovetravellingoz]

So that’s at least a fourth home.

The letter we saw (from my partner grandmothers aged care home) around the home being locked down and all residents being tested related to two different Freemasons homes.

Was it lockdown as in residents confined to their rooms (ie hard lockdown as at Maidstone), or just the facility being locked down?

All aged Victorian care homes are at least in the latter category and have been so since the 7 day lockdown was announced. The two that I have direct knowledge of are locked down to visitors, but residents can still move around within the home.

In the Vic Presser yesterday they called for all aged care workers to get tested.

 

[dajop]

Was it lockdown as in residents confined to their rooms (ie hard lockdown as at Maidstone), or just the facility being locked down?

Residents confined to their rooms. As per The Age :

In a letter sent on Sunday afternoon, the chief executive of aged care provider Royal Freemasons, Kerri Rivett, said the Coppin Centre in Melbourne and the Freemason’s Footscray centre had implemented “full outbreak procedures” and residents were self-isolating in their rooms.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

In a letter sent on Sunday afternoon, the chief executive of aged care provider Royal Freemasons, Kerri Rivett, said the Coppin Centre in Melbourne and the Freemason’s Footscray centre had implemented “full outbreak procedures” and residents were self-isolating in their rooms.

So Footscray, which is next to Maidstone.

And Coppin Centre not adjacent, but not too far away either.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Further 6 cases on top (will be in tomorrow's report as came in after midnight) of the 5 in the last 24 hr period.

3 cases relate to Maidstone. 1 is son of worker. 2nd is the he second worker.

3rd is a resident at Maidstone, a woman in her 90s. She was transferred to hospital but is asymptomatic..

 

[drron]

So the second aged care worker was a close contact of the first and the other two homes locked down had staff who had worked at Arcare.

‘Neck and neck’: Frantic job to beat covid

Victoria is now grappling with 11 cases of coronavirus from the past 24 hours, with hopes the state’s lockdown could still end at midnight on Thursday seeming less and less likely.

www.news.com.au

Iterestingly News has updated the quote of their expert Prof.Lewin who in this story this morning was quoted as saying that it was lucky that the first case at Arcare had had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on May 13th so it should reduce the chance of transmission by 50%.Looks instead that she is becoming a super spreader.

 

[dajop]

Iterestingly News has updated the quote of their expert Prof.Lewin who in this story this morning was quoted as saying that it was lucky that the first case at Arcare had had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on May 13th so it should reduce the chance of transmission by 50%.Looks instead that she is becoming a super spreader.

Does the vaccine act that quickly (her shift was 13 days later on 26th)?