Two aged care staff at Melbourne aged care home test positive for COVID-19 – one week after resident diagnosed – Victorian Chief Health Officer says residents don’t need to be removed during outbreak provided testing completed quickly

As we reported here, Lynden Aged Care, a community-owned Not for Profit with 102 residents, in Camberwell, 9km east of the Melbourne CBD, went into lockdown last Tuesday after a resident tested positive for coronavirus. The home has since been following strict health protocols with all residents and staff tested, but the two staff members only tested positive on Tuesday – seven days after the initial case. In a further concern for the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the two staff were not considered to be close contacts of the residents and the VHHS have been unable to track how they contracted the virus. Another round of testing is now underway to determine if the virus has spread further in the home, with close contacts of the staff put into quarantine and the source of all three cases being investigated. Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told ABC Radio Melbourne that he didn’t believe that residents should be removed from a home if a positive case was identified – saying that immediate lockdown and testing all staff and residents within 24 hours should ensure any risk was well-managed.

“I think it can be highly disruptive if you were to move out a number of people, so I think it’s reasonable to do that very broad testing while it’s in lockdown, get those results back,” he said.