Two-thirds of staff at infected nursing home unvaccinated
Five residents at an aged care home in Sydney's northwest have tested positive to COVID-19.
SummitCare in Baulkam Hills sent a letter last night informing residents that those who tested positive were "resting comfortably and not displaying any symptoms".
The residents have been transferred to Westmead Hospital as a "precautionary measure".
The rise in infections among residents comes after two nurses had worked at the facility while unknowingly infectious.
Despite 96 per cent of residents in the home being vaccinated, it was revealed that only one-third of staff members had received the COVID-19 jab.
Summit Care's chief operating officer Michelle Sloane said that one of the infected staff members was unvaccinated and the vaccination status of the other worker was "unclear".
The response caused an outcry from the daughter of one of the infected residents, who told the ABC she had assumed all the staff would have been vaccinated.
"I think it's a disgrace. If I had known, that would've meant I would've made other decisions around my parents," she said.
She then took to social media to blast reports from the facility that the residents are in “good spirits”, saying that is far from the truth.
“What nonsense,” she wrote.
“My father is terrified and is positive. Staff have been told to not talk to residents to minimise interaction. Please remember they are human and are frightened. Bring in social workers!”
Speaking to Sunrise, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said he was "alarmed" to hear that two third of the staff at the facility were unvaccinated.
"I'm like every other Australian and wondering why our frontline workers in aged care have not been vaccinated," he said.
"It's something that is alarming and yes the Federal Government set a timeline of the middle of September for workers to be vaccinated.
"I think that today what we have seen overnight and yesterday, it's a reminder that this class of work, these frontline workers, must have priority and I would encourage those aged care facilities to get out and trying to vaccinations up before September."