Greater than 500 aged Australians have died in aged care with Covid-19 through the first few weeks of 2022. With Omicron plaguing nursing properties, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and Coalition frontbenchers have been out defending their administration of the disaster.
Listed below are a few of their latest claims that Guardian Australia has fact-checked, together with feedback on the booster rollout, the explanations for low booster uptake, and the way the sector is faring as employees report atrocious circumstances and burnout.
Most of those that died in aged care with Covid-19 have been of their ‘final days of life’
The well being minister, Greg Hunt, stated of those that died in aged care from or with Covid, 60% have been palliative and “within the absolute final days of their lives”. It's a assertion Hunt repeated in subsequent press conferences.
A spokesman for Hunt stated the 60% determine relies on knowledge supplied by the states and territories on lives misplaced in residential aged care residences since July 2021.
Nonetheless, an aged care scenario report revealed by Main Age Companies Australia on Wednesday stated: “Additional clarification of those statements is required.”
The Main Age Companies Australia chief govt, Sean Rooney, stated this was as a result of palliative care is care supplied to somebody with a complicated illness and terminal prognosis the place the principle objective of therapy is high quality of life.
“This isn't the identical as people who find themselves within the final days of their life. Folks will be palliative for years,” he stated.
Households are a barrier to aged care residents receiving booster photographs
Hunt instructed the ABC on 3 February that: “My mild message to households is, please, please, please, enable your residents, your households, your family members, to have that booster, to supply that consent.” Hunt beforehand stated: “We all know that some households have, for no matter their causes, not supplied consent for his or her family members to take up the booster.”
Rooney stated the variety of instances the place this was related was “fairly small”.
The director of the Australian Well being Companies Analysis Institute on the College of Wollongong, Prof Kathy Eagar, instructed the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday: “Households aren't the issue. The vaccine booster program in aged care has been poorly applied.”
There had been stories of individuals struggling to get boosters for his or her household. The director of Aged Care Issues, Dr Sarah Russell, stated the position of households not consenting had been overplayed. “I do know a member of the family who gave consent in early December,” she stated. “She continues to be ready for her mom to be vaccinated.”
Russell stated a complete survey of aged care suppliers and residents is required to find out the principle components contributing to low booster charges.
The aged care sector is performing ‘extraordinarily nicely’
The minister for senior Australians, Richard Colbeck, stated on 2 February that the aged care sector was performing “extraordinarily nicely” regardless of the Omicron outbreak. He stated in 2020 there have been 28,000 Covid instances in Australia, of which 2,051 have been in aged care [7.2%], however of the 1.8m Covid instances as of two February, 10,500 [0.58%] have been in aged care.
Rooney stated aged care employees and administration had performed extraordinarily nicely, and “it’s completely applicable to acknowledge this each time we discuss in regards to the present scenario”.
“However the affect on the sector has nonetheless been devastating. And there's no doubt that there would have been fewer instances and fewer deaths if we had had sufficient RATs for each day screening of everybody, entry to PCR exams the place wanted, entry to surge workforce as promised and dependable entry to PPE.”
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation stated the outcomes of its nationwide survey, revealed on 1 February, discovered that nurses and carers have been nonetheless being pressured to pay for their very own fast antigen exams (RATs) to go to work. This was regardless of Hunt asserting on 15 August that RATs can be out there to aged care properties.
The survey additionally discovered 20% of nurses stated they have been planning to depart their place throughout the subsequent 12 months and 38% throughout the subsequent one to 5 years.
In keeping with Russell, solely 668 of two,704 non-public aged care properties had acquired RATs by 7 January. “This was a complete abrogation of the federal government’s responsibility,” she stated.
With nurses protesting in Canberra on Tuesday morning over woeful staffing, and the defence minister, Peter Dutton, asserting on Monday 1,700 defence troops can be despatched into aged care properties in an try and fill staffing gaps, the sector was clearly struggling.
Australia is doing nicely in comparison with Canada
Scott Morrison instructed the ABC’s Sabra Lane on 2 February: “Proper now, outbreaks in Canada in aged care services are 13 occasions larger than they're in Australia, they usually have the identical vaccination charge as us.”
The federal authorities’s weekly aged care report now additionally consists of knowledge from Canada to attract a comparability. The newest report, revealed on Friday evening, stated: “By comparability, Canada has skilled over 11 occasions the variety of deaths in care properties than Australia as at 4 February 2022.”
Prof Alexandra Martiniuk, a professor of epidemiology on the College of Sydney and adjunct professor of epidemiology on the College of Toronto, stated Canada has had a lot bigger waves of Covid previously two years in comparison with Australia.
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However the aged in Canadian and Australian aged care residences have been most likely not comparable, she stated.
“Solely the sickest of the aged are in long-term or aged care in most Canadian provinces,” she stated. “So the comparability wants to think about the inhabitants. Given extra aged care is given in properties in Canada, these in residential services are more likely to be a lot older and sicker, and subsequently probably extra prone to Covid-19 an infection and extreme outcomes and deaths.
“Canada additionally has had higher and earlier entry to RATs, anecdotally, than Australia.”
35,000 individuals in aged care haven't had a booster
Hunt stated throughout a press convention on 3 February that there have been about 190,000 individuals in aged care, and of these, about 20,000 had both not had their second dose, or been vaccinated in any respect.
He stated this left a pool of about 170,000 individuals eligible for his or her booster, and of these, 125,000 had acquired it. “So it’s about 35,000 that haven't taken it up.”
Rooney stated the federal government’s weekly report simply gave the entire variety of doses delivered, making it unattainable to determine booster charges from this.
“We observed odd adjustments on this determine, together with falls in some weeks,” he stated. “It's not clear why this has fluctuated, however we anticipate it's a operate of individuals coming into and leaving care, after which knowledge for brand spanking new and departing residents being up to date.”
From 4 January, the federal government started reporting a standalone residential aged care determine in its each day stories. That is acknowledged by way of variety of individuals “totally vaccinated” or “partially vaccinated”. However the federal authorities definition of totally vaccinated is 2 doses, making it onerous to determine booster figures.
Russell stated if we accepted this determine of 35,000 residents who had not acquired the booster, 18.5% of all residents had not been boosted, which she stated was regarding.
“The figures for what number of residents haven't acquired their booster shot aren't public,” she stated. “When Richard Colbeck was requested for this determine, he took the query on discover.”
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