A new COVID-19 case in Victoria has been described as Australia’s “worst-case scenario”.
Victorians are currently in lockdown as the coronavirus clutter grows to 40 cases.
One case in the Arcare Maidstone aged care facility in Melbourne’s northwest has been labelled as a “mystery case”, as health authorities rush to determine how the female health care worker caught the virus.
The woman was asymptomatic and wore a mask while working on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The aged care positive case is an extreme concern to us,” Victoria testing commander Jeroen Weimar told reporters.
He said on Sunday that it was the first mystery case reported during the latest outbreak and was located in one of the “most vulnerable and sensitive” settings.
“Having the virus get into an aged care facility is a big concern,” Deakin University Professor Catherine Bennett told The Project.
She said about half of the people in the facility had received one dose of the vaccine, but it was unclear how many were fully vaccinated.
“So having a worker unknowingly take the virus in, is our worst case scenario just because of the risk of serious illness amongst the people in that facility.”
On Sunday, Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed that up to 15 percent of aged care residents were still unvaccinated as they hadn’t consented to the jab.
“This isn’t an abstract idea about the virus, it’s very real. And we can now see how quickly it can get into a facility,” Professor Bennett said.
But, she said if people chose not to be vaccinated, despite their personal risk, authorities would have to manage this.
She continued, saying facilities may have to group people together who were unvaccinated and they may be the first to not be able to receive visitors during future outbreaks.
“This is something that we’ll have to now look at very carefully,” she said.
“But perhaps, like vaccination generally, the current outbreak might in fact inspire people to get extra protection.”
