Victorian nursing home in lockdown after a member of staff tests positive for coronavirus
- A worker at a Victorian nursing home tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday
- Grant Lodge in Bacchus Marsh, 50kms north of Melbourne, is under lockdown
- The residents have been tested for COVID-19 and contact tracing is underway
- A health worker at The Launceston General Hospital has also tested positive
- Two new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Tasmania on Tuesday night
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
A nursing home in Victoria is under lockdown after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
The employee at Grant Lodge in Bacchus Marsh, about 50km north of Melbourne, was screened for coronavirus on Saturday and all nursing home residents are now being tested.
Djerriwarrh Health Services, which manages Grant Lodge, confirmed the staff member who tested positive was not showing any standard virus symptoms.
Grant Lodge nursing home (pictured) in Bacchus Marsh, 50 kilometres north of Melbourne, is in lockdown after a member of staff tested positive for coronavirus
A Djerriwarrh Health Services statement said: ‘The staff member has been isolating at home since being tested and remains asymptomatic.’
The aged care facility has been locked down while contact tracing investigators from the Department of Health locate the source of the virus transmission.
The statement noted that nursing home staff members were also being tested for coronavirus and sent home to self isolate.
‘All Grant Lodge staff members who have interacted with the infected staff member are being tested and sent home for isolation and the Lodge is in lockdown.’
‘Grant Lodge has undergone a complete and thorough cleaning process and we are currently working through staffing details to ensure residents are being cared for,’ Djerriwarrh Health Services said.
Pictured: A drive-through coronavirus testing site in a Melbourne carpark
A health worker from a COVID-19 ward at a hospital in northern Tasmania has also contracted the deadly virus, forcing other staff off the job for testing.
The Launceston General Hospital worker was one of two new cases confirmed in the state on Tuesday night after a run of four virus-free days.
Ten staff members who were in close contact with the worker, aged in their 40s, have been furloughed and will be tested before being allowed to return.
‘The likely source is a result of their work in providing care to someone on the ward,’ Deputy Public Health Director Scott McKeown said.
‘But we do need to assess all possible sources of infections.’
The person hasn’t worked at the hospital in about two weeks, after going into isolation when they felt unwell.
Dr McKeown said he was ‘very reassured’ they had not worked while sick and would have only been infectious for a short time before developing symptoms.
Tasmania is on high alert for any virus cases in healthcare staff after a deadly outbreak at two hospitals in the northwest city of Burnie last month.
Services are progressively coming back online after the facilities were closed three weeks ago, with the surgical ward and medical oncology slated to soon reopen.
Twelve of the state’s 13 deaths have come in the northwest, with the region’s cluster accounting for about two-thirds of the state’s overall 223 cases.
The other latest case, a person in their 70s, has apparent links to the outbreak.
Health authorities are warning against complacency and are urging anyone with flu symptoms to get tested.
There are 42 active cases in the state, while 168 people have now recovered.
Mr Gutwein flagged creating a specific fund to help residential renters in extreme distress, as the state parliament sits to pass legislation providing greater protections to commercial tenants.
The number of positive coronavirus cases in Australia as of Wednesday May 6