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Second Sydney nursing home resident at centre of COVID-19 outbreak dies
A second elderly resident has died at a Sydney nursing home at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak, as the NSW Health Minister warns the state faces a “long game” in stemming the virus.
The 94-year-old man, who resided at Anglicare’s Newmarch House in Kingswood near Penrith, died this morning.
There have been 21 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 2957. There are 245 people being treated in hospital, including 21 in intensive care and 17 on ventilators.
This was in sharp contrast to predictions last month, says Mr Hazzard, when the NSW Government thought there could have been as many as 700 deaths by now.
The stringent social distancing measures, improved handwashing and people not travelling to work when sick have been the “cornerstone” of why NSW has “done much better than we would have thought”.
But Mr Hazzard warned he had been advised by NSW Chief Medical Officer Kerry Chant the state still had a long way to go and restrictions would remain in place for some time.
“It is a long game and we have a long way to go,” he said.
Comparing the pandemic to a game of football, Mr Hazzard said NSW was “only 10 minutes in” to the first quarter of a match.
“We’re doing very well but let’s not get too excited at this point because as Dr Chant has said we’re barely halfway through the first quarter of this very long game,” he said.
Nursing home cluster
Two elderly residents, aged 93 and 94, died overnight and this morning respectively.
Both had tested positive to COVID-19, although the cause of death is not yet formally confirmed
Anglicare Sydney, which runs the facility, released a statement confirming the deaths and sending their “thoughts and prayers” to grieving relatives and friends.
“We want to reassure the wider community that with our partners from the State and Federal Health authorities we are doing all we can to curb the spread of the virus and to care for our residents in the midst of this tragedy,” the statement read.
There have now been 26 residents and 13 staff diagnosed with coronavirus, after a healthcare worker with symptoms of COVID-19 continued to work at the facility for six days before discovering she had the virus.
“I think this extensive testing that has been undertaken in the Newmarch House has identified the cases early. We now need to stop the spread,” Dr Chant said.
“The facility is obviously managing it with high levels of infection control to prevent any further transmission within the facility.”
Workers protection extended
He described the act of spitting or coughing on someone as a “weapon” during the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, there have now also been incidents in which retail staff and transport staff have also been subjected to this disgusting, dangerous behaviour, and it will not be tolerated,” Mr Hazzard said.
“Every worker in this Covid-19 crisis is now an essential worker and will have the added protection they deserve, including those in retail stores and those critical to our public transport system.”
The announcement came after police arrested a 25-year-old man from Nowra on the NSW South Coast overnight for allegedly spitting at police officers and other offences.
Source: 9News
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