On Friday, Aged Care Minister Senator Richard Colbeck announced urgent COVID-19 testing for all residents and staff at the homes on Tasmania’s North West Coast – Melaleuca Nursing Home in East Devonport, Eliza Purton Home for the Aged in Ulverstone, and Coroneagh Park in Penguin.
As of Monday, just one resident – a 79-year-old woman at Melaleuca – has returned a positive test out of around 500 people across the three homes.
The woman has been transferred to Launceston Hospital for treatment.
All 500 may be subject to re-testing to confirm the result, which Premier Peter Gutwein labeled “bittersweet”.
“On one hand, it’s reassuring there’s been only one positive case identified,” he said.
“As a result of this positive case, around 22 staff at the facility will be assessed and if necessary be quarantined as a precaution.”
Tasmania’s Director of Public Health, Mark Veitch added that staff deemed to have had close contact with the resident will be quarantined at home for 14 days.
“That will create quite a stress on the staffing of the institution … Public Health is working with all of these nursing homes,” he said.
Dr Veitch acknowledged that extra staff “may need to come in”.
He is right. Melaleuca is a small, 48-bed operator in regional Tasmania.
That is potentially 22 staff that they will need to source for the next two weeks locally because of the travel restrictions on the state – no easy task.
