Blue Care Bundaberg records region’s eighth Covid death in aged care

As Bundaberg records its eighth death in aged care from Covid, an infectious disease expert has pointed to the very real disparity that makes the survival chances of regional and country Australians lower than their city counterparts.

Bundaberg‘s aged care Covid death toll has hit eight, with another death recorded since last week.

The tragic news comes as CQUniversity Professor of Immunology and Haematology and Research co-ordinator for infectious diseases Andrew Taylor-Robinson said the region‘s high Covid death rate could be explained by “statistical anomaly”.

Latest Australian Government data reveals there have been 3559 deaths in aged care since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

In the Bundaberg region, one of those was at the Blue Care Pioneer facility, with another five at Blue Care Riverlea (the facility where the latest death was also recorded).

Palm Lake Care Bargara has recorded two Covid deaths.

Last week, the Bundaberg NewsMail reported that Bundaberg accounted for about two-thirds of the Wide Bay‘s aged care deaths among seniors.

Prof Taylor-Robinson explains that regional areas the world over come with poorer health in general.

Prof Taylor-Robinson said there was no “identifiable” reason as to the number of aged care deaths in the region when compared to other parts of the Wide Bay.

He said vaccination rates and mask use could play a part, but otherwise, it was likely that Bundaberg was like any other regional community and the number was simply down to chance.

“Another factor is that the health of the elderly in regional and rural areas of the country is – in general terms – less good than their aged-matched equivalents living in metropolitan areas,” Prof Taylor-Robinson said.

“So - at a population level, not the individual - they are more likely to have underlying medical conditions that predispose them to struggling with SAR-CoV-2 infection.

“This country/city inequity is seen not just in Australia but globally.”

Prof Taylor-Robinson said overall, the causes of the outcome were very likely both multifactorial and complex.