‘Superspreader’ party at Summer Hill aged care facility in NSW

/ Chief health officer Kerry Chant

A COVID-19 outbreak at a nursing home in Sydney’s inner west has been linked to a “superspreading” Christmas in July party. An infected nurse at the Wyoming Nursing Home in Summer Hill also worked across multiple aged care facilities.

NSW Health confirmed that 18 residents and two staff members have now tested positive. Chief health officer Kerry Chant said the positive patients had been taken to hospital and the remainder of residents on the top floor of the facility were being sent to hospital as a precaution. Inside the home, run by Hardi Aged Care, 32 of the centre’s 61 residents will be in hospital by the end of the day. 

“Sometimes it is not a good idea to have a Christmas in July right in the middle of a pandemic but I do understand that it is an effort to try and provide entertainment and to support to residents and those things have to be decided by the aged care facilities.”

Dr Chant said a “large number” of other facilities, including St Hedwig Retirement Village at Blacktown, had been affected after a Wyoming nurse worked across aged care centres. She said authorities were working with the Commonwealth to ensure that staff stopped moving across multiple facilities. Health authorities said the outbreak again highlighted the importance of vaccination in aged care facilities. 

/ NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard

Mr Hazzard said of the centre’s 61 residents, 50 had been vaccinated, while 10 had declined for various reasons including medical issues. “It is a strong message though to everybody that you should get vaccinated because out of those 10, who for various reasons refuse to be vaccinated, seven are positive,” he said. Three-quarters of the facility’s staff had been vaccinated and the federal government is returning to affected facilities to offer vaccines to residents who declined at first.