Five Victorian aged care facilities are on alert after three staff members, one resident and a home care worker tested positive to COVID-19 yesterday.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said cleaning, contact tracing and testing is underway across all affected facilities.
Professor Sutton said the staff member who works at Doutta Galla in Kensington, in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, had worked while infectious. The not-for-profit home also had a staff member test positive in May.
A staff member of Uniting Agewell Preston also tested positive to the virus.
A statement from the not-for-profit provider said, “The staff member, who last worked on Friday 3 July, along with four other staff members who worked with them across three shifts, are in home isolation.
“Three of those staff have since tested negative and one is pending test results.”
“Importantly, none of these staff members had extended direct contact with any residents and only worked in one wing of the facility.”
In response to the infection confirmation, Uniting AgeWell is performing the following procedures:
As Melbourne bunkers down for six weeks’ lockdown, the city’s aged care facilities will remain on high alert. Victoria recorded 134 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, and 191 on Tuesday, the state’s highest day for new infections.
Since the time of publication, several more aged care staff have tested positive, including in nursing homes in Essendon, Doncaster, Altona Meadows, Ivanhoe and Healesville. Three of the staff were infectious while at work, according to the ABC.
Image: Marina113, iStock. Model is posed and does not represent actual people or events.
