No new COVID-19 cases in Victorian aged care homes – but two regional aged care workers test positive as part of blanket testing for staff

On 27 April, Victoria announced it would target a number of sectors for coronavirus testing – including healthcare and aged care workers. Today – proof it is paying off.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen, confirmed while there have been no new cases detected in the state’s aged care homes, two healthcare workers from the Kyabram District Health service in regional Victoria, have tested positive to COVID-19.

Kyabram provides a range of acute, subacute, residential aged care and allied & primary health care services to the local Goulburn Valley region, 200km north of Melbourne.

The service says all 75 of the dedicated staff at its Sheridan aged care service, which offers residential care, respite care and planned group activities, had been tested by a team from Melbourne on Monday, along with all consenting residents who had not been swabbed previously. Two workers then returned positive results.

Kyabram says neither staff member worked while infectious, with one staff member not working for 11 days and the other for 14 days. Both are now self-isolating at home with contact tracing being undertaken by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

The DHHS says at this stage, there are no patients or residents who fit the close contact criteria, but Kyabram is still urging anyone from the service who feels unwell to be tested at local screening clinics.

The other 73 staff members and all of the residents all returned negative results.

You must ask: should the other States and Territories being following Victoria’s example?