14 staff and 27 residents have now been confirmed to have COVID-19 at the Not For Profit’s Newmarch aged care home in Kingswood in Western Sydney – an increase from 30 on Friday.
Over the weekend, two residents who had tested positive passed away – a 93-year-old man on Saturday and a 94-year-old man on Sunday – prompting an emotional video from CEO Grant Millard announcing the first death.
You can watch it below:
[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.theweeklysource.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Anglicare-Statement-2020.04.18-Grant-Millard-CEO.mp4"][/video]
Both residents’ causes of death will be confirmed in the coming days.
The increased cases and deaths come despite a series of proactive measures taken by Anglicare before and after a staff member at the home tested positive for the virus on Saturday, 11 April – 10 days ago.
The operator had put in place a lockdown before Federal Government restrictions came in. The worker however was asymptomatic and unaware that she was infected.
Following the initial confirmation, Anglicare deployed a specially trained squad of staff trained in working with COVID-19 and also had PPE in stock – yet the infection level has increased.
