12 January 2021
NSW Health has provided the following advice in relation to Residential Aged Care Facilities and Home Care Services.
As of 8 January, 2021:
Advice to residential aged care facilities
Advice to home care service providers
The key points include:
Until further notice all residential aged care facilities must:
- ensure all staff and visitors wear a surgical mask within the facility
- ensure residents have a maximum of only two visitors each day. They may have different visitors each day provided they are not from the Northern Area of the Northern Beaches, City of Wollongong, Cumberland City Council or the Canterbury Ward of Canterbury Bankstown Council.
- exclude staff and visitors who:
- live in a household with a person who is currently self-isolating
- have been to any of the latest COVID-19 locations in NSW at the times and dates listed, excluding the monitor for symptoms list
- have a fever (37.5°C or higher) or symptoms of COVID-19 (acute blocked nose congestion has been added to the list of symptoms)
- are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are within their self-isolation period.
- exclude visitors from the Northern Area of the Northern Beaches, City of Wollongong, Cumberland City Council or the Canterbury Ward of Canterbury Bankstown Council.
- regularly visit the NSW COVID-19 website on areas of active community transmission
- ensure that legible records are kept of visitor and staff entry and exit into the facility for contact tracing purposes
- other ways to connect with family and friends will remain important. Refer to the Industry Code for Visiting Residential Aged Care Homes during COVID-19 for alternative ways of communicating between residents and their families.
Until further notice all residential aged care facilities in Northern Area of the Northern Beaches, City of Wollongong, Cumberland City Council or the Canterbury Ward of Canterbury Bankstown Council:
- must exclude all visitors, except those performing essential caring functions
- should avoid residents leaving the facility unless it is essential (for example, a medical appointment) or for exercise
- should ensure that residents are provided with appropriate PPE and infection control advice if they need to leave the facility.