SUNRAYSIA aged care facilities entered a snap 48-hour lockdown this week following reports that a positive COVID-19 case may have been infectious in the community for several days last month.
Princes Court Homes in Mildura and Merbein’s Chaffey Aged Care were among those to close their doors to all visitors after a new case of COVID-19 was detected on Sunday in the 3505 postcode area which comprises the Merbein, Birdwoodton, Cabarita and Yelta regions.
Chaffey Aged Care said the facility entered a 48-hour voluntary lockdown to create its own “bubble” in response to the new case announced on Sunday.
The facility’s Facebook page said the public health unit had advised that the local case may have been positive and infectious in the community between September 24 and 27.
“We have been advised that there are exposure sites in our immediate community, which have not yet been made public through the exposure site listings,” the Facebook post said.
“We encourage families and friends to regularly check the COVID-19 government website to ensure they are not at risk from these exposure sites when they are announced.
“Until we understand the risk within the community, and our visitors can review and declare that they are not at risk of exposure, we will be limiting visitors to the facility to only those providing end-of-life support to care recipients.”
The facility said the temporary restrictions would be reviewed on Monday, allowing the public health unit and contract tracers to work with those impacted in community.
“We are being overly cautious and alert, but not alarmed and will regularly communicate with families,” it said.
Princes Court Homes said it had also entered into a 48-hour lockdown as of Tuesday afternoon for “precautionary measures”.
“We are concerned about potential COVID-19 sites in the region,” the facility said.
Four new cases were confirmed for the Mildura Local Government Area on Wednesday, three of which who were close contacts and one that was still under investigation.
