A 95-year-old woman and 82-year-old man at the Not For Profit’s Dorothy Henderson Lodge in Macquarie Park (pictured), 13km northwest of the Sydney CBD, have both died after being confirmed to have the illness following a staff member in her 50s testing positive for the COVID-19 virus last Tuesday.
Now two more residents and three staff members are infected.
The original long-term staff member had not recently travelled overseas, and it was unknown where she contracted the virus.
Eleven residents that were under the nurse’s care were placed in isolation at the facility. All residents are confined to their rooms.
NSW Health were forced to send staff to the facility on the Wednesday the woman was diagnosed after some staff reportedly did not turn up to work because of concerns about infection.
Health Minister Greg Hunt appeared on TV on Thursday to reassure aged care staff.
“We would respect the rights of the workers but encourage them to work with their facility managers to make sure that they are well-informed and that they are in a position to understand every step,” he said.
BaptistCare has issued its own daily media statements on the situation at the facility too, saying that staff interacting with residents are continuing to wear full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and there have been no new cases of coronavirus recorded since Friday.
BaptistCare’s CEO Ross Low has also released his own video to reassure families and staff.
Will this be a situation we see repeated as the virus spreads?
