Residential aged care operators and staff are to be congratulated as the number of homes with active cases of COVID-19 fell 26.5% and the number of residents with the virus fell another 15.8% in the seven days to Friday last week.
At 8pm on Friday, 3 March 2022, there were 661 residents with COVID in 210 RAC homes. 514 staff members also have COVID. As of 5pm on 4 February, there were 5,439 residents with COVID in 1,146 homes.
Almost half the residents with COVID reside in NSW RAC homes. At 3 March, the cases were:
- NSW (301)
- Queensland (189)
- Victoria (73)
- South Australia (36)
- Northern Territory (35)
- Western Australia (24)
- Tasmania (2)
- ACT (1)
Deaths did rise 4.9% in seven days. The total number of residents who have died this year was 854 last Friday.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) continues to be used after a request of the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation, Health Services Union, United Workers Union and Australian Workers Union.
As of 3 March 2022, the ADF has 250 personnel deployed across 41 RAC homes, making 95 visits in total. The main ADF support surge occurred on 12 February with 200 personnel available in each State and Territory for tasking.
Opal HealthCare’s Nambour Gardens Care Community in QLD’s Sunshine Coast had the most resident cases of COVID with 48 as of last Friday, with Hetti Perkins, an Indigenous service in Alice Springs, NT, having 47 cases and Ozcare’s Keith Turnbull Place in Labrador on QLD’s Gold Coast and Hardi Aged Care’s Blacktown Nursing Home, 34km west of Sydney’s CBD, 45.
