Carers have tested positive for virus... with no symptoms
CARE home workers and residents have tested positive for Covid-19 despite showing no symptoms.
The revelation has sparked fresh calls for mass testing amid fears care home staff could be carrying the virus into work, without knowing they have it, and infecting residents.
Care home owners are now calling for staff to be tested twice weekly in a bid to drive the virus out of residential facilities across Scotland.
Experts had previously advised against testing asymptomatic people – with Nicola Sturgeon claiming it would risk creating a ‘false-positive’.
Two weeks ago the First Minister announced a mass expansion of testing, prompted by growing concern over a rise in the spread of coronavirus and the number of deaths in care homes.
This has seen mobile testing units run by the military visit care homes across the country to test all residents and staff.
Robert Kilgour, chief executive of Renaissance Care, has revealed that spot tests at his care homes in Scotland have identified a number of Covid19 cases. He said that ten staff members and five residents had tested positive despite displaying no symptoms of the virus, and it was only because of mobile military testing that this had been discovered.
He is urging Miss Sturgeon to introduce twice-weekly testing for all care home staff.
Politicians also want to see additional testing for care home workers, and have called on the First Minister to utilise current capacity.
The Scottish Government has pledged to reach a capacity of 15,500 tests a week, but last week it was carrying out an average of just 1,792 a day. Mr Kilgour said military units had first visited some of his care homes last week to carry out a ‘blitz’ of testing on everyone, whether they had symptoms of Covid-19 or not.
He said the results had caused panic among staff, who were afraid they could have passed on the virus to others, including residents.
Mr Kilgour told the Scottish Daily Mail: ‘We have had results that show ten staff in total in several of our homes and five residents, all with no symptoms, have tested positive. We were told previously there is no point mass testing staff unless they have symptoms. But, it’s very different.
‘We now have staff who are absolutely not coming in because they have tested positive.
‘We have been banging our head on a brick wall asking for more testing, but we were told that the medical advice was that there was no point testing people who had no symptoms. But clearly that’s not the case.’
Mr Kilgour said: ‘I want to see twice-weekly testing of staff. I think this strengthens the arguments that care homes need more support, and there should have been mass testing a lot earlier.’
Miss Sturgeon is facing growing pressure over the spread of coronavirus in care homes, with residents continuing to die from it.
Any hospital patient who has had Covid-19 must take two negative tests before being discharged to a residential facility, while those who have not had the virus must still take a test whether in hospital or the community.
In addition to the new mobile testing units run by the military, care home workers are able to access tests through the NHS and testing centres across Scotland.
Guidance issued to care homes advises that residents should not be mixing socially, and that barrier nursing must be used when Covid-19 is suspected.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said his party had called on SNP ministers to ‘set out a timetable for when all care home staff in Scotland will be tested’.
He added: ‘After this crisis is over, SNP ministers will have to answer why Scotland has seen the highest death rates in care homes in the UK.’
‘Staff are not coming in’