Originally Posted by
aviation_enthus
Sweden and other countries that went through a proper wave in March/April have plenty of “good news stories” about how to protect the vulnerable.
Yes they had a high death rate amongst aged care homes. But within this bad news there are numerous stories of homes with NO deaths. They were the ones that were proactive and moved ahead of the government rules.
Things like:
- staff are only allocated to one centre
- preventing cross contamination between areas within individual centres
- limiting or stopping family visits during high case numbers
- no casual staff (all staff have paid sick leave so they will actually stay home when slightly ill)
- proper PPE training and equipment for staff members
- providing proper medical care (including oxygen) to COVID patients within aged care homes
Most of these things DID NOT happen in Australia as well. Especially in the Federally regulated centres. Even today its only VOLUNTARY that staff restrict themselves to working in one centre!!!
It’s not rocket science. The virus has been in the world for over 6 months now. There’s more than enough evidence of things that have worked to aim for better rules and regulations. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We don’t even have to come up with some brilliant plan. Just proper allocation of resources were the threat actually lies (over 70’s) would be a good start.
Open the borders between states.
Masks in all shopping centres, buses etc.
Protect our aged care homes and prioritise services that allow over 70’s to avoid public areas as much as possible (like home delivery, home medical visits, etc).
Let the rest of us get back to work as much as possible. The only thing saving us so far is JobKeeper. Watch how fast public sentiment changes next year when unemployment really starts to bite. When more people start losing homes.
You are absolutely spot on with what is required.
The issues in the aged care sector could be solved by doing all the things suggested & by the federal govt mandating these requirements.
As you say,it is under their control & its not rocket science.
For those that think it cant happen in a state outside of victoria,you need to think again as the rules are the same right across the country.
The aged care system is regulated by a government intent on running it with a casualised work force with lowest possible pay rates whilst making sure the operators are well looked after allowing maximum profits.