Four Melbourne aged care homes exposed to Covid-19 after three workers and one resident test positive

There are fears Covid-19 has seeped into Victoria’s aged care system with four facilities put into lockdown and a resident testing positive.

A huge health response is underway at four aged care facilities after they were linked to Victoria’s growing Covid-19 outbreak.

There are fears more cases will emerge in aged care after three of Monday’s five new local infections were linked to the sector.

Minister Health Martin Foley said one was the son of the first case in aged care – reported on Sunday – at the Arcare Maidstone facility.

Another case was a staff member at the same nursing home – the woman, who was not vaccinated, worked alongside the initial case.

Mr Foley said the third case was a resident at the Arcare Maidstone home. She was a woman in her 90s, asymptomatic and had been transferred to hospital.

Victoria Minister Health Martin Foley says three of Monday’s five cases have come from aged care. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

It means two staff members and one resident have contracted coronavirus at Arcare Maidstone overall, while it was also revealed on Monday another worker at the BlueCross Western Gardens nursing home in Sunshine tested positive on Sunday night.

Two other Royal Freemasons sites were also on high alert after two workers – one from Coppin Centre and the other from Royal Freemasons Footscray – worked at the Arcare Maidstone facility in the past week.

The Royal Freemasons was notified of the link at 6am on Sunday and immediately locked down the facilities, notified the Department of Health and commenced full PPE and testing of all residents and staff.

No staff or residents at Royal Freemasons have tested positive at this stage.

Arcare Maidstone issued a public statement on Monday saying the ill resident had received one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Meanwhile, in a letter sent to families by BlueCross Western Gardens aged care home and published on 3AW, the facility said its residents were being quarantined in their rooms and were symptom-free after a worker tested positive on Sunday night.

The worker was a close contact of a positive worker at another aged care facility. It’s not known if the Blue Cross Western Gardens staff member worked alongside the other positive aged care worker.

A worker at the BlueCross Western Gardens nursing home in Sunshine tested positive on Sunday night. Picture: 3AW

It comes after Labor MP Bill Shorten’s earlier comments on Monday that he had heard second-hand accounts from Arcare Maidstone the virus had spread to other partially vaccinated residents.

“Worryingly, both the staff member who recorded positive and one resident, possibly two, (who) have contracted Covid were both vaccinated in the first round,” he told ABC.

“So it just emphasises to me, and I think to everyone listening, that two vaccinations is what we need.

“When I hear the federal government saying one vaccination somehow (the) goal … you need two. One is not enough.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt revealed the worker felt ill and got tested on Friday, returning a positive result the following day.

RELATED: ‘Extreme concern’: Victorian aged care centre in lockdown after worker tests positive to Covid-19

Bill Shorten says the case may have spread to at least one other partially vaccinated person at the site. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“Common work began immediately between the commonwealth and the Victorian government. And both the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre, led by the commonwealth, in partnership with the Victorian Department of Health, I think, followed an exemplary process so far,” he said on Sunday.

“They were vaccinated on May 12, and so it’s some considerable time now that the worker has been vaccinated and that was done as part of the in-facility residential program.”

Arcare Maidstone Aged Care residents must quarantine in their rooms after three cases emerged out of the facility. Picture: David Crosling

The Health Minister said 53 of the centre’s 76 residents had consented to be vaccinated.

Mr Shorten conceded it was a “worry” that 15 per cent of the residents had declined the vaccine but said the Arcare centre was “fortunate” to have leftover vaccines on May 12.

“It also worries me that Mr Hunt thinks that everyone’s had one dose at our care … it doesn’t match up with what I’m hearing on the ground,” he said.

“But of course if people are refusing to take the vaccination, I’ve just got to say to them: why?

“Even if you think you’re bulletproof, just think about your neighbour down the hallway or the worker who’s caring for you.”