ACROSS Australia, as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb, some aged care facilities have been locked down again, however, Hamilton’s aged care facilities continue to do well with only some visitor restrictions.

Eventide Lutheran Church of Australia, district administrator for Victoria, Stephen Mildred said there were presently 19 residents and four staff members who are COVID-19 positive at Eventide in Hamilton.

“Most residents who have tested positive, have almost no symptoms or only very mild,” he said.

“Everyone is doing what they should be doing and testing if we see someone with a bit of a sniffle.

“We are only too familiar with what to do, and fortunately everyone is doing very well.

“At present there is no general visitor access allowed but essential visitor access continues.”

The Australian Government deployed up to 1700 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in February this year to support staff shortages in residential aged care facilities where there had been outbreaks of COVID-19.

Eventide Lutheran Homes were provided assistance by the ADF for a short period in early June when a COVID-19 outbreak forced the facility into lockdown, but so far this has not been required for the present wave of cases.

Western District Health Service (WDHS) reported a 47 per cent rise in case numbers to 278 in the Southern Grampians Shire over the last seven days - as at 2pm, Tuesday July 26.

It reported there were no COVID-19 patients admitted to the Hamilton Base Hospital or at WDHS residential aged care facilities, however, there were presently 16 patients receiving care through the Hospital in the Home program.

WDHS chief executive Rohan Fitzgerald said the number of WDHS healthcare workers isolating at home with COVID-19 is sitting at 11 and at these levels there is no impact on service delivery.

He said there were some simple steps that can be taken to help keep the people we care about safe in the community.

“Face masks slow the spread of the virus and are an important part of fighting COVID-19,” he said. 

“WDHS strongly encourages local government, community groups, businesses, schools and sporting clubs to put in place policies that increase the use of face masks, to reduce the impact of this wave.

“Let’s continue to work together, to slow the spread of the virus and give our healthcare workers a fighting chance of maintaining essential services in these challenging times.

“The response from the Southern Grampians community throughout the pandemic has been outstanding and has kept us all safe.”