The Victorian aged-care crisis will be co-ordinated from Monday by a new emergency response centre, amid expectations of a rising number of elderly coronavirus deaths.
Victoria recorded another six aged-care coronavirus deaths on Sunday, with dozens more feared as hundreds of new cases are recorded across the state each day.
A multi-agency response centre is being set up to help deal with what are seen as inevitable deaths because of the strain the virus puts on elderly people and those with multiple health issues.
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the crisis centre would be used to manage the impact of the pandemic across the various aged-care facilities.
Senator Colbeck on Sunday met online with families of residents at St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Melbourne, which has suffered badly during the pandemic. Families had complained of a lack of information about residents.
Senator Colbeck said the new crisis centre would be supported by Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services, Emergency Management Australia, Emergency Management Victoria and the federal Health Department.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a challenging situation for the aged-care sector in Australia,” Senator Colbeck said, “but the Australian government continues to work proactively to ensure measures are in place to prevent the spread of the virus and save lives.
“Having all services co-located will make communication and the management of actions across the impacted areas more efficient, including frontline measures to protect those we love most. It will also offer a definitive approach when it comes to locating, and co-ordination of, clinical care and clearly define procedure related to issues like the removal of waste PPE from aged-care sites.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday said he wanted to work co-operatively with the Morrison government to resolve any issues. “No state government can do this on our own because the system is not governed by us, it’s not a system run and paid for by us,” he said.
Governments have done modelling on the number of casualties expected during the latest spike in Victorian numbers. It was initially feared thousands of people could die if it weren’t for the lockdown measures imposed in the state.
Masks are expected to act as an effective stage-four lockdown measure and experts are hopeful they can turn around the rising number of cases, but there are concerns the stubborn nature of the increases may mean the fight to drive down numbers will take many more weeks.
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