A public health expert with the World Health Organisation predicts a quarter of all aged care residents infected with COVID-19 will die.
Penny Stephens/Western Health
Nurses sent in to help Melbourne's coronavirus-ravaged aged care facilities say they are gravely concerned for residents - even those without COVID-19 infections — who have been stuck in "solitary confinement" for months.Western Health Clinical Nursing Consultant Shane Durance said he fears there will be a long tail of ongoing deaths in nursing homes due to the pandemic, unrelated to COVID-19 infections.
"We've got people who aren't COVID-positive, whose mood is severely depressed, who are not eating well, who are not drinking adequately, who are prominently locked in their rooms, not able to go out for any activities, no leisure activities, and their mobility is declining and their mood is declining" he told 7.30.
"And for someone who's already elderly, already has a mood disorder, already is mildly malnourished - it's very hard to come back from that."
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