A Broken Hill aged care facility has gone into lockdown after about 20 cases of COVID-19 were detected over the weekend.
Nearly all friends and family of residents at Harold Williams Home in the outback New South Wales town will be barred from visiting for at least 10 days.
The centre went into lockdown Sunday night, about 24 hours after it was discovered two staff were COVID-19 positive.
Facility a 'red zone'
Southern Cross Care (SCC) subsequently tested everybody who lives at or is employed by the facility.
SCC Infection Control clinical nursing consultant Karen Kemp said 11 residents, most of who were in their 80s and 90s, tested positive for COVID, as well as "eight or nine" staff.
As such, visitations are limited.
"The circumstances when visitors can come in is when a resident is at end of life, and they've been put into the terminal phase," Ms Kemp said.
Residents 'upset'
Ms Kemp said a number of the residents inside the facility were frustrated about the virus entering the facility and the lockdown.
"They're a bit upset that this situation has happened, but we can't stop visitors coming in and we can't stop staff socialising," she said.
"They may be asymptomatic and be positive for COVID, and even some people have tested negative for their RAT test, and then hours later they test positive.
SCC has locked down its Broken Hill aged care facilities several times this year due to the virus.
It follows other incidents in 2021, including during April when several residents passed away with, or as a result of, the virus.
"The Far West LHD [Local Health District] are assisting us in providing a doctor so we have a doctor every day do a virtual round of all the residents," Ms Kemp said.
"She orders them their anti-viral medication, so I notified her on Saturday night when we got our first case."
Lockdown duration uncertain
The duration of the lockdown is dependent on whether more COVID cases are detected.
"It's 10 days of isolation, so every time a resident is positive we add 10 days to it [the lockdown]," Ms Kemp said.
"It's usually about two weeks.
"It could be up to a month."
