Australia is doing well – but the fight isn’t over.
Cases in residential care and home care have only increased slightly from last week, but the proportion of COVID-19 deaths in Australia’s aged care homes is beginning to resemble the higher rates seen in Europe and the United States.
Check out the latest data from the Department of Health above. And think about the impact on say the retirement village ‘brand’ if a large COVID-19 outbreak occurred.
The number of residents who have tested positive for the virus has climbed from 60 last week to 63 this week, due to the outbreak at Anglicare’s Newmarch House aged care home in Western Sydney.
Another eight residents have now died at the home, bringing the total number of deaths at Newmarch to 15 – and the overall number of deaths in residential care in Australia to 25 – or 25% of the total 95 deaths.
Another cluster has also been detected at a Melbourne aged care home, Hawthorn Grange, with four residents and one staff member testing positive over a four-week period – the source of the infections is now being investigated by Victorian health authorities.
In positive news, two more aged care residents are recorded as recovered – for a total of 16.
In home care, 31 cases have now been confirmed, with 18 people now recovered and four deaths.
The Department of Health does not record confirmed cases in retirement villages or LLCs, but we know at least five villages and LLCs have recorded one or two cases, mainly from village residents returning from cruise ship holidays.
In the US, at least 16,000 nursing home residents have now died.
