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
The Northern NSW Local Health District have a mobile COVID-19 testing clinic stationed in the centre of Byron Bay for the duration of the NSW school holidays. Police say that have issued infringements for alleged breaches of Public Health Orders and licensing regulations during a three-day licencing operation in the Richmond Police District over the weekend. Humans have told a lot of stories about how awesome we are, but there's one emerging hypothesis that casts our species in a very anti-heroic light. In terms of the planet, are we behaving like a disease? The Byron Shire and the Northern Rivers are well known for their abundent range of illegal dwellings, additions, and converted garages. Falls Festival management has announced the festival will not be going ahead in 2020. Lismore council have been conducting an online survey about the restrictions which has seen the New South Wales/Queensland border closed. Two Lismore venues have been issued $5,000 fines following non-compliance with COVID-19 Public Health Orders. The amount and type of Mythbusters on the World Health Organisation’s website would be hysterical if the situation weren’t so deadly serious. COVID-19 (Coronavirus) statistics and news from the New South Wales and Queensland. Emergency alerts from Queensland Health have been issued for residents in multiple suburbs in the south, south-east and south-west of Brisbane.
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The WHO COVID-19 mythbusters
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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.