Covid outbreaks threaten 34 aged care facilities across NSW
Thirty-four aged care facilities in New South Wales are currently in the grips of a Covid-19 outbreak or are under close surveillance due to recent cases, new data shows.
The resurgence of the virus across the eastern states has again put dozens of aged care facilities at risk and highlighted low vaccination rates among aged care workers, who the government once promised would receive the jab by Easter.
Health department data shows 24 aged care facilities across NSW were experiencing outbreaks, as of Monday morning. Another 10 residential aged care facilities were under “enhanced surveillance”.
Those 10 sites are not considered by the department to be “active outbreaks” but they are being monitored closely due to recent positive cases.
The Australian Capital Territory is also dealing with a potential outbreak in the Greenway Views facility in Canberra’s south, after a worker tested positive and unknowingly worked three shifts while infectious.
The spread of the virus back into aged care has again highlighted the huge proportion of aged care staff still waiting on their first dose, despite the fact that a vaccine mandate will be enforced in roughly one month.
The latest figures provided to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) suggest 61% of workers, or 170,000 of 276,910 staff, have received their first dose. About 41% have received both doses.
That is a significant improvement on this time last month, when about 43.4% had received their first dose.
But rates remain low at some individual facilities, such as the private RFBI Hawkins Masonic Village in Newcastle, where less than a third of staff have received a first dose. The facility is one of the 24 currently experiencing an outbreak.
Aged care workers were initially included in the highest priority phase of the vaccine rollout, which the government said would be completed within six weeks of the rollout’s commencement in February.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation described health and aged care workers as “the most important group for prioritisation … because they are doing work of critical importance and societal benefit”.
But the program was marred by confusion, delay, broken promises and a lack of access to vaccines for aged care workers.
“The really disappointing thing, and
it feels almost futile to say it any more, but it was meant to be done four months ago, the workforce,” ANMF federal secretary Annie Butler told Guardian Australia.
The director of Aged Care Matters, Dr Sarah Russell, said the public must be kept informed about aged care homes with outbreaks, saying they are exposure sites.
Russell described the aged care vaccine rollout as a “national disgrace” and said staff continued to bring the virus into facilities.
“In February, minister Hunt announced that all staff and residents would be vaccinated within six weeks by an in-reach vaccination workforce,” Russell told Guardian Australia. “He did not honour his word.”
Both the union and industry say there has been some recent progress in improving access to vaccines for workers. In-reach vaccinations at workplaces are being conducted and Butler said pop-up hubs were helping to vaccinate staff.
The use of both in-reach vaccinations and pop-up hubs, despite being promised, were delayed significantly in the early stages of the rollout.
Patricia Sparrow, the chief executive of peak body Aged & Community Services Australia, said it was “no secret” that the initial vaccination program left the sector “far more exposed than it should be”.
“Our workers should have received the jab in their place of work earlier this year, as was originally planned,” Sparrow told Guardian Australia. “The program would have been completed by now.”
But she said there were promising signs. The availability of vaccines and places for aged care workers to receive the jab have improved, she said.
“But the distribution must prioritise essential aged care workers, including those who support people living in their own homes, to ensure the best possible protection for all,” Sparrow said.
The commonwealth’s data collection relies on reports from aged care services, both for case numbers and vaccination rates.
The vaccine mandate due to be introduced next month will rely on public health orders made by various states and territories.
Guardian Australia revealed last month that state governments still had not made those orders. The Morrison government had also announced the vaccine mandate prior to conducting a risk assessment, examining how such a requirement would impact on the workforce and continuity of care.