Lonely resident with no immediate family becomes the 15th person to die from coronavirus at 'hellish' Sydney nursing home
- A man has become the 15th person to die at Newmarch House in Western Sydney
- His death takes the New South Wales total to 45 and the national toll to 96
- The facility became a COVID-19 hotspot after a sick worker infected residents
- Investigations are underway to find out how staff members caught the virus
- Health Services Union say daily testing of workers should have happened earlier
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
A resident with no immediate family has become the 15th person to die at the coronavirus-riddled Newmarch House near Penrith in Western Sydney.
The man's death takes the New South Wales total to 45 and the national toll to 96.
'His passing highlights how terrible this virus is and how devastating it is for the elderly in our community,' Newmarch House operator Anglicare said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
'The impact of COVID-19 on older people is increasingly evident in Australia and internationally and this is extremely distressing for other residents, their families and members of the wider community.'
The nursing home became a coronavirus hotspot after a staff member went to work for a week with a sore throat, not realising she was carrying the virus.
Health Services Union NSW said daily testing of workers at the nursing home at the centre of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak 'absolutely' should have happened earlier.
A resident with no immediate family has become the 15th person to die at Anglicare Newmarch House in Western Sydney (pictured)
More than a third of all residents and 26 staff members have tested positive to coronavirus. Pictured: an aerial view of Newmarch House nursing home
The testing regime has been established in an attempt to manage the outbreak where more than a third of all residents and 26 staff members have tested positive to coronavirus.
General secretary Gerard Hayes on Monday said it shouldn't have taken the deaths of so many Newmarch House residents to introduce daily staff testing.
Testing should have been performed 'across the board' two months ago when there was an outbreak at northwest Sydney aged care home Dorothy Henderson Lodge, he said.
'We know aged care is such a vulnerable sector of the community and it should have been done from day one,' Mr Hayes told ABC radio on Monday.
'It's vitally important that people are tested to make sure that something that may or may not the virus can be eradicated.'
NSW Health is running the testing at Newmarch House, which first became aware of its outbreak on April 11.
'We continue to be grateful for the support from the Commonwealth and NSW governments,' an Anglicare spokesman told AAP on Monday.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said over the weekend he was 'quite satisfied' Anglicare was doing everything it could to halt the virus, but was saddened by the confirmation of new COVID-19 cases at the facility in recent days.
He also defended the staff who had spread infection, saying dealing with the virus was 'like almost going to the moon'.
Investigations are underway to find out how the staff members, who Anglicare says were experienced in infectious disease situations, caught the virus.
Genomic sequencing had so far shown the virus that entered the home had linkages with 'a number of other clusters' in the community, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.
The department is open to the possibility the virus didn't come solely via the first known case - a nurse who worked at the facility for six days with mild symptoms.
'What we're trying to do is identify the index case ... and that requires going through all the medical records, reinterviewing staff, trying to find any other chains,' she told reporters on Monday.
'Were there any other introductions at or about that time? We're just trying to look if there were any missing links or missing chains.'
Dr Chant said results of some serology tests were pending, but 'might be a dead end'.
'Sometimes, I've got to be honest, we don't actually find that first case in,' she said.
'All I can say is that the genetic sequencing is indicating that there are similarities, this strain is the strain that was in the broader Penrith area.'
An investigation has been launched into whether infection control methods were breached at the facility which has become a coronavirus cluster.
Anglicare says it will raise the possibility of extracting residents from the aged care home.
Anglicare Sydney chief executive Grant Millard said 'it would seem that's fairly obvious that there have been failings'.
'The use of PPE (personal protective equipment) is foreign to a lot of people,' Mr Millard said on the weekend.
A group of family members published a scathing open letter to Mr Millard saying communication from within the home had been 'far from satisfactory'.
Health Services Union NSW said daily testing of workers at the nursing home at the centre of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak 'absolutely' should have happened earlier. Pictured: Family members of a resident walk through Newmarch House last week
The nursing became a COVID-19 hotspot after a staff member went to work for a week with a sore throat, not realising she was carrying the virus
A makeshift memorial honouring Newmarch House residents who have died from coronavirus
'Phones went unanswered day after day. Calls were not returned. Details about our individual loved ones were not provided regularly,' the letter read.
'The residents were reporting that the care was inadequate and they were becoming distressed. Many of them were sick and frightened and did not have regular access to their family on the outside which increased their levels of anxiety as well as ours.'
NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay called on the government to give all Newmarch residents, even ones who were healthy, the option of being moved to the public hospital system.
The latest death at Newmarch House brought the nationwide tally to 96 on Monday as leaders grapple with relaxing social and economic restrictions.
A coronavirus outbreak at Cedar Meats in Melbourne's west is behind 19 of Victoria's 22 new cases, with 34 infections coming from the abattoir.
A Sydney school was closed on Monday when a student tested positive, just one day after a Melbourne campus was shut because a teacher contracted the disease.
In Queensland, the staggered path back to the classroom has been outlined with kindergarten, prep and years 1, 11 and 12 returning to classrooms on May 11.
The man's death takes the New South Wales total to 45 and the national toll to 96
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMieGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtODI4MzUwOS9SZXNpZGVudC0xNXRoLXBlcnNvbi1kaWUtY29yb25hdmlydXMtTmV3bWFyY2gtSG91c2UtV2VzdGVybi1TeWRuZXkuaHRtbNIBfGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9uZXdzL2FydGljbGUtODI4MzUwOS9hbXAvUmVzaWRlbnQtMTV0aC1wZXJzb24tZGllLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLU5ld21hcmNoLUhvdXNlLVdlc3Rlcm4tU3lkbmV5Lmh0bWw?oc=5
2020-05-04 06:43:06Z
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