With residents in aged care facilities making up the vast majority of overall deaths from COVID-19, is it time that we turned our attention to focus more on how we can stop the virus killing our elders?
The peak body for non-profit aged care providers Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) has congratulated the Queensland Government for adopting procedures that facilitate the transfer to hospital of residents diagnosed with coronavirus in aged care and urged all states to follow Queensland’s lead.
The Royal Commission heard yesterday that NSW authorities had not transferred Covid-19 positive aged care residents to hospitals because they wanted to avoid setting a precedent.
ACSA CEO Patricia Sparrow said it’s not about precedent, it’s about saving people’s lives. ‘Immediate transfer to hospital of the first people in residential care diagnosed with Covid-19, is the best possible protection measure against the terrible tragedy we are seeing unfold in Victoria.
Hospitals the best chance to contain the virus
‘Transfer to hospital provides the best treatment for individuals and the best chance to contain the spread of the virus in an aged care home as the Royal Commission heard yesterday based on the experience of Dorothy Henderson Lodge.
‘Queensland has now joined South Australia in adopting this best practise principle putting it in a much better position to prevent spread of the virus within an aged care home.
‘Community transmission is the enemy of aged care. Once a single case gets into a facility it can be impossible to contain. This is because aged care homes are not hospitals. They aren’t staffed like hospitals. They are not funded like hospitals. They are homes.
‘It’s time that all states and territories joined South Australia and Queensland in adopting this best possible scenario for protecting older people in aged care and containing outbreaks,’ said Ms Sparrow.
Recent stories, information and updates regarding COVID-19
Enhanced safety measures for point to point transport such as taxis, hire and rideshare vehicles are being rolled out in Byron Bay, Ballina and Lismore with the opening of three free temporary vehicle sanitisation stations. The capital of East Timor, Dili, is reeling after flood waters swept through the city on the weekend, leaving at least 27 dead. The President of East Timor, Francisco Guterres Lú-Olo, described the floods as a 'great calamity'. NSW Health has confirmed that COVID-related restrictions for the Northern Rivers will be lifted at midnight tonight (Monday 5 April). On Easter Sunday afternoon the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) has thanked the community for coming forward in large numbers for COVID-19 testing, with more than 10,000 tests conducted in the region in the past week. As masks become harder to find across the Northern Rivers following the latest COVID-19 health alert, NSW Health has provided masks for business operators in Ballina and Byron Shires. The Byron Shire community and visitors have come forward in large numbers for testing following the alert of two COVID positive visitors coming to Byron Bay last weekend. If you are not feeling well or have flu lime symptoms, even if they are mild, the Northern NSW Local Health District is asking that you get tested following two positive COVID cases that travelled to Byron Bay last weekend. As Brisbane prepares to go into another three-day lockdown Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says it is a necessary measure to stop the UK variant of COVID which is highly infectious. The film, TV and streaming world came to Lennox Head late last week, both in person and virtually, for the Screenworks Regional to Global Screen Forum. In response to the latest cases of COVID-19 detected in the Brisbane community, hospitals in Northern NSW Local Health District are restricting entry for visitors who have been in the Greater Brisbane area.Vehicle sanitisation stations roll out
Dili facing double disaster
Northern Rivers COVID restrictions lifting at midnight
COVID testing encouraged in the NNSWLHD
Face masks for Ballina and Byron businesses
UPDATE: Thousands of COVID tests conducted across northern rivers
Two new COVID testing clinics for Byron
COVID: infectious sisters visit Byron Bay
Exciting times ahead for local screen industry
Restrictions put in place for Northern NSW Local Health District facilities
I just did the math for the average age of death by covid-19 in males, based on the Australian Goverment web sight[ https://www.health.gov.au/resources/covid-19-deaths-by-age-group-and-sex%5D. The average age is 80.73. The average life expectancy for a male Australian in 2018,[https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/age-at-death], was 78. Facts are facts. Even with covid we are still living longer.
Sick people caught up in a pandemic that can last
for months & possibly years should be in hospital
& not left to aged careers who are Not fully trained
in life-&-death situations. Believe it. Age, either
way can only benefit if professionals do what they
do best.