Investigations are underway after four cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at Hawthorn Grange, a private stand-alone aged care home 7km east of the Melbourne CBD – three weeks after an initial case was diagnosed.
A Victorian Department of Health Human Services spokesperson tells us that the first case at home was identified in late March, with contact tracing and quarantine measures implemented.
That case fully recovered, but a second case was then identified more than three weeks later, which prompting expanded testing of all staff and residents at the home.
In total, one staff member and four residents have tested positive for coronavirus.
The DHHS says it is currently investigating whether the first and second case are linked and any possible transmission sources.
All residents at the home are currently isolated and confined to their rooms with individual and tailored support.
New admissions or visitors to the home have been banned, while cleaning has been undertaken as required by the DHHS.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told 3AW Radio there may be more cases to emerge at the home, but says he believes they will get on top of the outbreak.
“We’ve identified those additional cases and tested across the board for residents and staff,” he said.
“(Aged care facilities) are places where you absolutely need to act down on it immediately and that really means extensive testing, including individuals with no symptoms.”
Victoria is currently undertaking a two-week testing blitz of up to 100,000 people and had its worst day in over a week yesterday, with seven new cases identified.
