Victoria aged care facilities caught breaching coronavirus restrictions

Victoria is battling hundreds of cases a day and those working with the state’s most vulnerable say coronavirus isn’t being taken seriously.

Victorian aged care workers are reporting their own facilities for allegedly not taking coronavirus seriously as the state grapples with hundreds of new cases a day.

Health Minister Greg Hunt earlier confirmed 213 aged care residents had tested positive in Victoria across 21 facilities.

Some 38 other aged care facilities have at least one staff member who has tested positive.

St Basil’s, in the north Melbourne suburb of Fawkner, is the state’s biggest aged care cluster with 69 cases.

Federal health authorities moved into St Basil’s yesterday and took over the facility however recent complaints made to Victoria’s Health Workers Union showed the workers were calling for better communication before the outbreak began.

“Management gave us full protective equipment this week. Even as of Sunday, after they knew COVID was an issue, masks and gloves weren’t taken seriously. It was up to workers ... it wasn’t enforced,” one anonymous St Basil’s worker told the Health Worker’s Union, in call logs obtained by Today.

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Menarock LIFE Aged Care in Essendon, Melbourne has also been hit with coronavirus. Picture: Ian Currie

In another complaint, a St Basil’s worker said they had seen a resident “coughing and sneezing all over the place”.

“Reporting that a resident was taken to hospital last week. Before that, he was coughing and sneezing all over the place. Infecting staff and others. He was not isolated,” they said.

Yet another St Basil’s worker said she only found out about federal health authorities taking over the facility from the news.

“She’s at home now and doesn’t know when she’ll get paid or when she’s supposed to return ... There’s been no communication from her employer,” the report said.

Christine Golding, whose mother has been a resident at St Basil’s since 2011, said she was “terrified” and “concerned” about the fate of her mum.

"I did not see any of the staff wearing masks before the full lockdown." The daughter of a resident of the St Basil's aged care home says she is "concerned" about the facility's severe COVID-19 outbreak. #9Today pic.twitter.com/ojh97OiGog

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 22, 2020

Ms Golding was however puzzled by the outbreak and said the infection control at the aged care home had been very strict.

“My own experience of the protocols at St Basil‘s during the COVID situation is that they’ve been very strict in terms of family visitations,” she told Today.

“From the end of March to mid May, we could not visit our loved ones. We could FaceTime them and Skype them. But we could not visit them.

“And they did facilitate that process. From mid May to about 10 days ago, we could visit but we had to book half an hour slots and it was very controlled. My mother was behind a glass partitioned room so I had no physical contact with her so that was very strict.

“With regards to the wearing of masks, I did not see any of the staff wearing masks before the full lockdown again. And that, I‘m assuming, is because it wasn’t mandated by the state government or the Commonwealth Government.

“However, since this COVID outbreak, I have seen them wearing shields, full PPE gear.”

Victoria recorded 404 cases today with five deaths, a slight drop in its record increase of 484 yesterday.

News.com.au has attempted to contact St Basil’s Aged Care.