Victoria COVID LIVE updates: Two Melbourne aged care homes in lockdown as state records five new local cases; exposure site list grows - The Age

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A second aged care worker in Melbourne has tested positive to coronavirus.

In a letter obtained by radio station 3AW, BlueCross chief executive Robert Putamorsi said a staff member at Western Gardens facility in Sunshine had tested positive. The employee was a close contact of a worker at an Arcare aged care home in Maidstone who tested positive over the weekend.

“We remain under the direction of the DHHS [sic] who have advised us to quarantine all residents in their rooms,” the letter said. “We are closely monitoring all residents for any symptoms of COVID-19.”

“At this stage, all are symptom-free.”

Mr Putamorsi said BlueCross was involved in extensive contract-tracing efforts.

The positive staff member, who last worked at the facility on May 28, received a negative test last week. Authorities notified BlueCross yesterday that the worker had then returned a positive result.

Mr Putamorsi said 76 per cent of residents had already received their first vaccine dose.

BlueCross Western Gardens is the fourth aged care facility to be linked to the current coronavirus outbreak that has locked down Melbourne.

Residents and staff at the Arcare aged care facility are being encouraged to roll up their sleeves today after a staff member tested positive yesterday.

The Victorian lockdown has thrown the AFL into a spin – again. Football writer Daniel Cherny reports.

Richmond have received exemptions for the balance of their squad to head to Sydney, allowing Indigenous star Shane Edwards to take on Essendon in next Saturday night’s Dreamtime game at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

The AFL last night confirmed the Dreamtime match, a feature of Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous round, would be moved to Perth.

Tom Liberatore, Rohan Smith and Jason Johannisen at Melbourne Airport on Sunday.Credit:Getty

The remaining Tigers flew to NSW on a day the Western Bulldogs also departed Melbourne but Hawthorn returned home as the AFL manages its delicately placed fixture amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria.

The Bulldogs join Carlton and the Tigers in New South Wales, with the Blues playing Sydney on Sunday afternoon and likely to remain in Sydney to take on West Coast next Sunday.

Read more here.

Remember the Australian cricketers who fled India in the middle of that country’s deadly COVID-19 crisis? They have been released from hotel quarantine in Sydney. Daniella White reports.

Australian cricketers leaving quarantine. Credit:Nine

A group of Australian cricketers who fled the COVID-19 crisis in India have left hotel quarantine in Sydney.

Almost 40 players, support staff and broadcasters arrived in Australia two weeks ago after returning via the Maldives on a charter flight.

The group had been in India for the Indian Premier League which was postponed in early May after a number of people within the competition tested positive for COVID-19.

Cricket stars including Ricky Ponting, Dave Warner and Steve Smith are among the group to have left quarantine.

The players left India on May 6 remaining in the Maldives until the federal government lifted its travel ban, arriving in Sydney on May 17.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the time said the players had not taken the place of any Australians trying to return to the country because their arrivals were not included in NSW’s travel cap.

A preschool in Viewbank has been closed this morning after a staff member visited a coronavirus tier 1 exposure site.

Viewbank Preschool emailed families this morning to warn them that anyone who had been in contact with the staff member would have to isolate “until our staff member returns a negative COVID test”.

“This means that all staff and children and any parents who visited the Preschool between Saturday May 22 and today are considered secondary close contacts until our staff member has returned a negative test,” the email said.

Fairy Hills Kindergarten in Ivanhoe has also been closed and listed as a tier 1 exposure site after a positive case attended the site.

Willmott Park Primary School in Craigieburn, which was only open to the children of essential workers and those who are vulnerable, has also been closed.

Thousands of Victorian primary and secondary students have returned to “home learning” this week after schools were closed for the duration of Victoria’s latest seven-day lockdown. Kinders and childcare centres were allowed to remain open.

And the numbers are in: five new cases. At this stage, we don’t know if the cases are linked to the existing outbreaks but we’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed that they are.

That brings the total number of locally acquired coronavirus cases across Victoria to 46.

There were good test numbers again yesterday: 43,874 and at least 16,752 Victorians rolled up their sleeve for a coronavirus jab.

In breaking news, two aged care homes in Melbourne have been directly affected by the latest coronavirus outbreak after staff members also worked at an aged care provider where a positive coronavirus case has been identified.

In a letter sent on Sunday afternoon, the chief executive of aged care provider Royal Freemasons, Kerri Rivett, said the Coppin Centre in Melbourne and the Freemason’s Footscray centre had implemented “full outbreak procedures” and residents were self-isolating in their rooms.

She assured families that no staff or residents had yet tested positive to COVID-19 and said they were awaiting test results.

“We have just been notified that clinical staff members at our Coppin Centre and Footscray homes have last week, worked at another aged care provider where a staff member has now tested positive for COVID-19,” she said.

“The potential exposure occurred during work at the other provider and all staff were wearing a mask. Within our homes, staff have also been wearing masks at all times.”

Read more here.

As the list of exposure sites grows daily, it’s worth checking back on a regular basis to see if you visited a location or store at the same time as a positive coronavirus case. Our excellent graphics team have been keeping our own exposures list update. You can search for locations in your suburb or town here:

Following our last post, federal political reporter Nick Bonyhady has just caught up with Bill Shorten in Canberra. Here is what he had to say:

Mr Shorten said he had no further information to share about the age or condition of the residents at Arcare who he said had contracted COVID-19, but described the situation at the home.

“Apparently one, maybe two residents may have tested positive, I’m sure the Victorian health authorities will have more to say today about that.

“The management of the facility are making sure that everyone’s getting their second vaccinations today, and for those workers who haven’t had their first vaccination, that’ll be happening.

“Perhaps the resident will be discharged into a hospital facility, so as to avoid any further potential spread of the virus in the facility. I think the residential facility are doing all that they can. They’ve got a very dedicated staff, but I’m sure this will be a period of some anxiety now for family, loved ones in the workforce there.”

He said the outbreak would likely not have happened and families would not have been worried if the federal government’s vaccine rollout had been faster.

“I’m accusing the Morison government of appalling negligence. I think it is not acceptable that we’re many months into the discovery and the development of vaccines and Australians are at the back of the queue.”

Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten says that one and possibly two aged care residents at the Arcare Maidstone nursing home in Victoria have contracted the coronavirus after a staff member previously returned a positive test.

“Worryingly, both the staff member who recorded positive, but one resident, possibly two… appear to have contracted COVID,” Mr Shorten said moments ago on ABC TV.

Former opposition leader Bill Shorten.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have not yet confirmed that claim.

But Mr Shorten said the cases underlined why two doses of a coronavirus vaccine were essential because the residents and worker had already received their first doses of the vaccine.

“The staff are working very hard in Arcare in Maidstone in Hampstead Road,” Mr Shorten said. “They are doing a great job.”

Casual worker Ed Westlake doesn’t know how he will pay his rent this month after his usual four shifts a week working in events were cancelled due to Victoria’s seven-day lockdown.

He is one of thousands of people paying for lockdown in lost wages without any support after the Morrison government shrugged off a push to revive its JobKeeper wages subsidy. The Victorian government’s $250.7 million for businesses will not provide any help to him.

Casual worker Ed Westlake doesn’t know how he’ll get by this week.Credit:Scott McNaughton

Like many, Mr Westlake has had a tough year. He lost his job to the pandemic and moved from Sydney to Melbourne, then sank into a months-long lockdown which prevented him finding secure work until just four weeks ago.

He has already withdrawn $10,000 from his superannuation to get by and now, with Victoria once-again locked down, he has no savings left.

“I’m left at a point in time where I’m now broke,” said Mr Westlake, who records his casual shifts with Centrelink and will probably receive a small amount of the JobSeeker payment. “Trying to buy food is impossible.”

Mr Westlake worried he would end up losing shifts even once Melbourne reopens, because the outbreak will shake confidence, and weddings and events are likely to be postponed.

He wanted to see governments recognise that casual workers were losing shifts – which could be as simple as bringing back the JobSeeker subsidy which ended on March 31.

“The government should actually reinstate their obligations from what there was in the first lockdown. Because there’s nothing that’s changed. It’s still the same situation,” he said.