Three weeks after the first report of an infected worker at BaptistCare’s Macquarie Park aged care home, the home has now had a total of 13 residents and five staff diagnosed with the virus.
NSW Health tested 67 residents on Friday 20 March which has confirmed another five residents and one staff member as positive cases – the other 62 residents have tested negative.
Another resident – a 91-year-old woman who was a resident of Dorothy Henderson Lodge also died on Saturday morning, bringing its number of deaths to four.
The provider also reports good news – three residents who had tested positive have now recovered and are out of hospital, while the four other staff members are also receiving at home in self-isolation.
They have had a case diagnosed at their nearby Willandra Village. The resident is now in hospital with other residents and staff who were in close contact with the individual asked to self-isolate.
Led by CEO Ross Low, pictured, BaptistCare has been sharing its learnings with all enquiring operators.
Opal Aged Care has four residents at its Bankstown home and one at Quakers Hill now tested positive with all 80 Opal facilities now under lockdown.
The diagnoses come despite Opal being one of the earliest to implement active screening and hand sanitising stations at the entrances to care homes, restricting travel for staff and reducing large meetings and gatherings in its homes on 9 March and restricting access to all its homes from 18 March.
The cases suggest that – in spite of criticism that visitor restrictions will leave residents socially isolated – they are the best way to protect residents.
