Forty-five individuals died at the institution as a result of coronavirus, and five more died as a result of negligence when personnel became sick.
The first person infected with Covid related to the St Basil's elderly care home epidemic, in which 50 people died, has spoken publicly for the first time, telling a coroner she was permitted to work despite living in a high-risk neighbourhood and having family who were feeling "throat irritation."
The former personal care assistant at the home, named only as "A" to preserve her identity, claimed she was swabbed on 5 July 2020 after finishing a shift at St Basil's at a drive-through testing facility.
She was tested with her husband, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister since they all resided in Moreland, an area classified by the Victorian government as high risk for Covid-19. A told the coroner on Tuesday that all five were asymptomatic at the time.
She said that the personnel who checked her knew she worked in an elderly care facility and told her she may go to work since she was asymptomatic.
Whilst she was not scheduled to work the next two days, July 6 and 7, she alerted a registered nurse at St Basil's, Jagmeet Nagra, on July 7 that two of her family members were experiencing "throat pain." None of the five had yet received the results of their tests. At the time, Victoria was dealing with a second wave of the virus, which caused delays in the receipt of test results.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nagra told the court that she told A she could come to work since she and her family were not suffering from symptoms such as a fever, runny nose, or cough. This guidance, according to Nagra, is also consistent with St Basil's policy for employees. However, after being questioned for over three hours on infection control protocols at the facility, Nagra burst into tears at the end of her testimony.
At the time, the Victoria Department of Health and Human Services recommended that only persons living in a high-risk region or experiencing fever, chills, or an acute respiratory illness be tested for Covid. According to the recommendation, people who do not have symptoms should not be tested unless they are in a specific situation, such as a recovered case returning to work in a high-risk workplace.
The care assistant A returned to St Basil's on July 8, still asymptomatic and without the results of her tests. However, she said that she got a text message from her husband during her shift stating that her sister-in-Covid law's test was positive.
A got her test results on July 9th, which indicated she had the virus. The facilities manager at St Basil's, Vicky Kos was texted and contacted to let her know. In the next few weeks, Kos will testify before the inquiry
She contested a statement made by another St Basil's employee who said that at the conclusion of her shift on July 5, A alerted other workers that her family members were suffering from sore throats. A refuted this, claiming that she had never had any symptoms despite testing positive.
By the time A concluded her isolation period, the virus had spread throughout the home, necessitating the furloughing of all employees and the replacement of agency workers in an effort to control the spread. For this reason, A did not return to work at home for roughly three months.
On Monday, the inquest heard that there was an eight-day delay between the reporting of A's positive test result to the state health department and the testing of all residents at the home. Testing should take place within four to six hours, according to guidelines.
Dr Ian Norton, a specialised emergency physician who presented the coroner with a report on the household, said that the delay was a "fundamental cause" of the virus running through the house.
Christine Golding, whose mother, Efraxia Tsalanidis, died after getting the virus at the facility, complained of her mother's "inhumane neglect" before her death due to personnel being under-resourced overburdened by ill patients. She recalled coming to the residence with other family members and pounding on the doors, begging for management to provide them with information.
94 residents and 94 staff members were sick between July and August 2020. Whilst 45 people died as a result of Covid-19, the court heard that another five died as a result of neglect over the same time period as the workers succumbed to the virus and deficiencies in infection control were exposed.
The coroner will investigate how St Basil's management and staff, as well as the state and federal governments, prepared for Covid in aged care; their responses when it struck; the timeliness of information provided to staff, residents, and families; whether the state and federal governments coordinated their response to the outbreak appropriately; and the adequacy of the replacement workforce deployed to St Basil's, among other issues, over a five-week period.
The investigation is still ongoing.
