‘Kind, caring and friendly’: Aged care resident dies as Victorian health authorities battle 100 outbreaks – Sydney Morning Herald

At least 138 cases have been linked to the public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington, up from 111 on Thursday, while the Al-Taqwa College cluster has risen to 134 cases.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said on Saturday only 30 of the state’s new cases were linked to known outbreaks, with the other 186 infections still under investigation.
Essentially weve got over 100 cumulative outbreaks now, so its very difficult to speak to the 30 cases with each and every one of those outbreaks, but we are seeing single cases with staff members in aged care facilities, he said.
Professor Sutton said Victoria had more outbreaks in aged care facilities than any other Australian jurisdiction.
Despite the high number of infections in nursing homes, Professor Sutton said: “we haven’t had an aged care facility that has had a substantial outbreak.”
In a statement, Mr Jordan’s family said he was a “kind, caring and friendly man” who loved telling stories about his job delivering milk by horse and cart in Richmond.
“Alf loved the Pies,” the statement said. “Whenever he met someone new his first question was who did they barrack for? And if he already knew you, there was no greetings of hello, he would just yell ‘go Pies’. He will greatly missed.”
As the coronavirus crisis deepened on Saturday, the Andrews government announced an ambitious plan to set up testing sites within 10 kilometres of every home within locked-down metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.
For the second consecutive day health authorities have been unable to provide a full breakdown of coronavirus cases among frontline healthcare workers despite outbreaks spreading through three emergency departments at major Melbourne hospitals and the infectious disease ward at The Alfred.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said health authorities were putting in “enormous efforts” to make testing sites accessible. The department was averaging between two to three days to return results, she said.
While Satuday’s 216 cases were down from Friday’s 288 infections, Premier Daniel Andrews warned the numbers are likely to surge in the coming days before plateauing again.
The Premier also flagged that wearing face masks would be a critical part of Victoria’s coronavirus response, even when the six-week lock-down ceases.
Those in the restricted areas where strict stay-at-home orders are in place are being urged to wear masks when not able to keep physically distant from others, in a bid to stop community transmission of the virus.
Victoria Police fined 83 people for breaching restrictions in the past 24 hours. This included a group of 13 people playing poker who were fined $1652 for breaking COVID-19 restrictions.
Mr Andrews said hotspots suburbs including Roxburgh Park, Craigeburn and Truganina continued to report large spikes in cases.
Seven cases have also been linked to the Catch.com distribution centre in Truganina.
Premier Daniel Andrews said masks were likely to be a key tool in reopening the state.Credit:Getty Images
The government announced on Friday two million reusable masks would be distributed as part of the push, but no date has been set for when this will occur.
Glendale Aged Care director of operations Glenn Hancock said Mr Jordan had never shown any coronavirus symptoms.
“This is a a very sad time for other residents and staff who knew this resident well,” Mr Hancock said.
He said all staff and residents have been tested for coronavirus. An 85-year-old female resident tested positive, but was asymptomatic. She is in strict quarantine at the nursing home. Two other elderly residents are awaiting their results.
Mr Hancock said outbreak procedures were enacted as soon as the first positive case was detected in the nursing home this week. The nursing home is closed to visitors and has been deep cleaned.
Smaller clusters of five or less have been identified at Cenvic Construction Riverina Apartments in Footscray, Debney Meadows Primary School, Somerville Meats Retail Services in Tottenham, PM Fresh facility in Broadmeadows and Ilim College.
Mr Jordan’s death marks the 23rd coronavirus-related fatality in Victoria and brings the national death toll to 107. There are now at least 1249 active cases in Victoria.

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