Three elderly residents at the SummitCare facility in Baulkham Hills tested positive overnight: a woman in her 80s, a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s.
Two have since been transferred to Westmead Hospital as a “precautionary measure”, while the third remains in isolation with his wife at the nursing home.
All three have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.
The new cases come after the nursing home was placed in “full lockdown” on Friday after an unvaccinated nurse who worked there tested positive.
A second nurse at the home tested positive yesterday.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Michael Kidd said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, the AHPPC, met again today to discuss the responses to the latest virus outbreak, particularly in NSW and the rest of the country.
“Looking at the outbreak at Summit Care, we are taking that very seriously, as we do with each outbreak in residential aged care facilities,” Prof Kidd said.
“The Commonwealth is working in partnership with New South Wales and the facility staff. The facility is in full lockdown and additional work force supports have been activated and testing of residents and staff has also been activated.”
Speaking at a press conference this morning, Summit Care’s Chief Operating Officer Michelle Sloane said that none of the infected trio were seriously ill.
“My understanding is they’re all resting very comfortably none of them were displaying symptoms,” Ms Sloane said.
She noted that the two patients who were taken to hospital overnight were transferred due to “public health” considerations around isolating them.
The family of the third resident opted not to transfer him to hospital so as not to separate him from his wife, with whom he shares a room at the home, but strict infection control protocols were in place.
The man’s wife has tested negative but will undergo further testing today.
Speaking at today’s COVID-19 update, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said that while the residents’ condition were “encouraging”, continual cycles of testing and isolation procedures would remain in place at the nursing home for 14 days since their exposure to the infected worker.
The site is currently being operated largely by an emergency force of surge workers, with three-quarters of their regular staff forced into 14-day isolation.
“Of 210 staff in total, of that there’s probably 70 to 75 per cent at home in isolation – it could be higher,” Ms Sloane said.
“At about 2am this morning, I was having to arrange with government officials to quarantine all of the evening staff – they had to go into 14-day lockdown – so, we basically had no staff left (in that unit).”
She said she had ensured none of her regular Baulkham Hills staff worked at any other facility, but only about one-third have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
All staff will be vaccinated on-site, but not until after the current outbreak has been dealt with.
“We’ve been advised that to do it now is of no benefit to anyone and if anything, it might mean that they suffer from some side effects of the vaccines and we might lose more staff,” Ms Sloane said.
However, all of those workers are not expected to have their first dose until mid-September.
Asked whether she thought that target was sufficient, Ms Sloane said it was “the best we can hope for”.
“I’m just happy it’s been mandated,” she said.
All of the residents’ families have been contacted, with Ms Sloane saying she had spoken personally with the children of all the infected residents.
Deep cleaning of the aged care home and daily testing of all residents and staff continues.
Yesterday, 226 tests of residents and staff were completed and all but the three infected residents returned negative results.
Of the facility’s 149 residents, 96 per cent are vaccinated.
Professor Kidd said all but one of the 2566 residential aged care facilities across Australia have today received their first and second dose of COVID-19 vaccination clinics from the national vaccine rollout program.
“The Commonwealth continues to supply personal protective equipment to affected aged care facilities, as well as providing a surge workforce to backup nurses in aged care workers in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak,” he said.
He said despite low numbers in known clusters getting vaccinated remained critical in battling the pandemic.
More than 8 million doses, including over 5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, have been administered in Australia
“Please continue to get vaccinated please encourage your family members, your friends to do so, especially those aged 60, and those in the priority groups, and increased risk of exposure or an increased risk of transmitting,” he said.
He also had a reminder for all Australians as we approach the middle of winter.
“This is a time when people may develop symptoms of cold or flu. But please, do not ignore these terms. It may be COVID-19. Please arrange to get tested,” he said.
