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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-15 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Restrictions, Aged-Care Facilities

Ms PRATT (Frome) (14:22): My question is to Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Are there COVID restrictions in place for any aged-care facilities in South Australia? If so, which nursing homes are affected?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:22): Thank you very much to the member for Frome for this important question. We are facing another wave of COVID cases in the community at the moment, and I have seen some media reports that it's maybe the eighth wave Australia has faced.

The advice that we have is that, essentially, every three to six months we are likely to see another wave of COVID happening in the community as we see waning immunity and we see mutations in the virus that mean that it can affect more people. So it is a time when it's particularly important for vulnerable people to be aware of a risk in relation to COVID at the moment, and none so more than in relation to residential aged-care facilities. So I thank the member for her question.

As the member would know, we ended the emergency powers that were in place previously, so there are not currently orders across the board from the state government in relation to aged-care facilities in South Australia. There are a number of recommendations from SA Health, as well as a number of recommendations from the federal government, that are in place for how to manage COVID in residential aged-care facilities. There is quite regular contact between aged care and the state health department as well as the federal health department in terms of how to manage the COVID risk.

Of course, we are now three and a half or almost four years into this, and so aged-care facilities are certainly very well-attuned in terms of their management plans and the strategies that they have in place in terms of managing the risk. That can obviously involve stepping up their response based on the number of cases that they might see in a particular facility at a particular time.

We would encourage anybody who is visiting an aged-care facility, in particular, to follow the local advice from the aged-care facility in terms of managing that risk. Most importantly as well, whatever aged-care facility you are visiting, or even if you are visiting somebody who is vulnerable who is not in aged care, please be mindful of the risk of COVID. If you are feeling sick, then please stay home and don't visit that person who might be vulnerable, particularly in aged care. There are still provisions of rapid antigen tests and masks available across aged-care facilities as well. It is important to help manage the risk, particularly for those older people.

The other key piece of advice for those people as well, as we have been saying for the past 18 months since the availability of antivirals has become more and more, particularly for people in older cohorts, is to have a plan in relation to getting early access to antivirals if people do contract COVID, whether you are in a residential aged-care facility or not. We know early access to antivirals can help to significantly reduce people's chances of ending up in hospital or people's chances of, sadly, passing away if they contract COVID.

Last but not least, we are again issuing a reminder, and Professor Spurrier issued this when we held a press conference just on Monday, to people in aged care and to family members to please make sure that they are up to date in relation to their COVID-19 vaccinations. The advice from ATAGI, the federal experts, is very clear in terms of recommending a booster dose for people over the age of 75, and for people over the age of 65 or with other comorbidities to consider another booster dose as well. This is a very timely opportunity to do so.

I think Professor Spurrier outlined that she is concerned that a number of the aged-care facilities don't have very high rates of those booster doses at the moment, and she is proactively reaching out to communicate with those aged-care facilities to make sure they increase their vaccination rates, particularly as we face this wave.

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