Elderly psych hospital to lock down amid coronavirus fears

The Government will stop visitors attending the Roy Fagan psychiatric centre, with its elderly residents at high risk of death or serious illness from coronavirus.

THE ROY Fagan psychiatric hospital will go into lockdown from Thursday, with visits from family and friends heavily restricted amid coronavirus concerns for its high-risk elderly residents.

The state government-run Lenah Valley centre has 42 beds and most of its residents are older than 65, meaning they are at high risk of death or serious illness if they catch the virus.

The hospital will allow visits in special cases however, such as for any end-of-life and palliative patients.

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According to World Health Organisation figures, coronavirus is most dangerous for elderly and older people, with a 21.9 per cent death rate for people over the age of 80, an eight per cent fatality for people over 70, and 3.6 per cent for those older than 60.

All six Australians who have died from coronavirus to date have been 77 or older.

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As of Wednesday, visitors were still welcome at the facility, although a Department of Health spokesman told the Mercury that could “change as the situation evolves”.

The new restrictions were announced on Wednesday afternoon.

The move comes as a number of Hobart’s nursing homes went into lockdown on Tuesday night with bans on visitors except in the exceptional circumstances.

Nursing homes in lockdown include Regis Eastern Shore and Respect St Ann’s, with video chats and telephone calls from loved ones encouraged in lieu of in-person visits.

Southern Cross Care, which has a number of nursing homes and retirement villages across Tasmania, has requested staff with flu symptoms to stay home.

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The health department spokesman said social distancing strategies had been implemented at Roy Fagan, non-essential staff meetings had been cancelled, and any staff members with symptoms will be asked to self-isolate.

So far, there have been no confirmed coronavirus cases in any of Tasmania’s nursing homes or at Roy Fagan.

As of Monday, the federal government encouraged all aged care providers to limit visits among a host of other restrictions including no entry to school groups, anyone with flu symptoms or anyone who’d recently been overseas.

From May 1, no-one will be permitted to enter an aged care centre unless they’ve had an influenza vaccine.