‘Terrible situation’ as aged-care Covid soars

Covid deaths in aged care over the past five weeks have exceeded the total number of deaths recorded over the whole of 2021.

Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson says aged-care facilities were facing a ‘terrible situation’ in the face of the recent Covid wave.

Covid deaths in aged care over the past five weeks have exceeded the total number of deaths recorded over the whole of 2021, prompting advocates and medical experts to urge the government to provide ongoing support to the sector “well into the new year”.

The Australian last week revealed 63 aged-care deaths had been recorded in just seven days – eight times higher than at the end of the previous Covid wave.

The latest figures from the health department show another 48 aged-care residents had died as a result of Covid in the past seven days, with more than 2800 cases reported and 730 facilities experiencing outbreaks.

It brings the total number of deaths in aged care since November 11 to 256, compared with the 231 deaths reported in 2021.

Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson said aged-care facilities were facing a “terrible situation” in the face of the recent Covid wave.

“While governments seem to be ready to move on, the virus is an ever present threat to older Australians and the decision to wind back support for the sector is premature,” Professor Robson said. “We need to keep residents in aged care as safe as possible and this requires the maintenance of ongoing support from governments well into the New Year.”

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells told The Australian she was “doing absolutely everything” she could to manage the situation, and pointed to the death rate in aged care reducing from 30 per cent in 2020 to 3 per cent in 2022.

“It’s a watching brief for me, I take advice from the chief medical officer, I meet with him regularly and I ask the question ‘am I doing absolutely everything I can do in aged care?’” she said.

“A few times he’s given me more suggestions we’ve put in place. We had the winter plan, we currently have the summer plan … I pull all the levers I can as federal minister, which is providing RATs and trying to make sure masks are in place … we provide Covid payments for centres that have had outbreaks to help them through.”

But opposition aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the government was “leaving ­providers high and dry with no meaningful support”.

“Last week alone, there were tragically 48 deaths in residential aged-care facilities, yet the only thing we have heard from this Labor government is that they ­remain committed to providing RATs and PPE to aged-care homes,” she said. “Although the rest of the country is transitioning to live with Covid, the Labor government is failing to recognise that vulnerable older Australians are uniquely at risk of facing severe implications if they contract Covid.”

Infectious diseases experts estimate Covid will persist for decades, but that the severity of the disease should wane as more people built up their immunity.

Australian National University Medical School Professor Peter Collignon said the latest wave of deaths was happening because ­restrictions had eased, compared with last year, and many elderly residents were catching Covid for what would be the first time.

“The highest risk of death is the first time you get infected, and that’s still happening,” he said.

Aged and Community Care Providers Association chief ­executive Tom Symondson said the figures were a reminder the pandemic was far from over in aged care and urged people not to visit their relatives if they were sick.

“It’s more important to keep loved ones safe than it is to send Christmas Day together sounds like I’m the Grinch, but we’re trying to keep people safe here,” he said. “We need people to do the right thing.”

Older Persons Advocacy Network chief executive Craig Gear said it was critical governments didn’t “take their eyes off the ball” as many elderly Australians continued to succumb to Covid.

“We need to make sure there is availability of both the booster vaccines and most importantly and antivirals,” he said.