All 32 residents of the home’s top floor have been taken to hospital, including those who have not tested positive, as a precautionary measure. No ground floor residents have tested positive to the virus.
Only 50 of the 61 residents at Wyoming Nursing Home in Summer Hill were vaccinated. Of the 11 unvaccinated, seven have tested positive.
The outbreak again demonstrates how extremely important it is that aged care residents are vaccinated.
Teams have been sent to the home to vaccinate any remaining residents who have not yet received the jab, according to the ABC.
Three-quarters of the home’s staff have been vaccinated.
She said authorities are putting measures in place to prevent staff from working across multiple facilities.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard told a press conference the outbreak is the result of a Christmas in July celebration that became a “superspreading event”.
“Sometimes it is not a good idea to have a Christmas in July right in the middle of a pandemic,” he said.
“But I do understand that it is an effort to try and provide entertainment and support to residents and those things have to be decided by the aged care facilities.”
However, a spokesperson for Hardi Aged Care, which owns the home, said the event was a regular monthly lunch with a Christmas theme, according to the ABC.
The age care worker should be punished if they were working at more than one place during a bad period.