Experts push for COVID cases in aged care to be moved to hospital – but Premier rules out automatic transfers
“Unless you have dedicated bathrooms – and not every aged care facility does – and unless you have highly trained staff in infection control, which you don’t have in aged care, then it is very difficult to ensure that any shared area is kept...
There are renewed calls for infected aged care residents to be moved to hospital as Victoria confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in 45 aged care homes. Professor Marylouise McLaws, an infection control expert at the University of NSW, says infection control in aged care homes is by its very nature difficult. “Unless you have dedicated bathrooms – and not every aged care facility does – and unless you have highly trained staff in infection control, which you don’t have in aged care, then it is very difficult to ensure that any shared area is kept clean all the time,” she told The Guardian. “It’s very difficult to all of a sudden turn really a shared home into a proxy hospital with cutting-edge infection control.” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews again confirmed cases would continue to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis today in his press conference however. “For me to stand at the podium and say we will move everybody out – not because of the medical opinion but because I think that is a good thing to do – that doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “I have some experience in a previous life about these matters – moving frail aged people out of nursing homes is not a good thing to do unless you absolutely have to.”
