The first person infected with Covid linked to the St Basil’s aged care home outbreak in which 50 residents died has spoken publicly for the first time, telling a coroner she was cleared to work despite living in a high-risk suburb with relatives experiencing “throat discomfort”.
The former personal care assistant at the home, identified only as “A” to protect her identity, said she was swabbed on 5 July 2020 at a drive-through testing clinic after she finished a shift at St Basil’s.
She was tested with her husband, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and sister, as they all lived together in Moreland, an area the Victorian government had identified as high risk for Covid-19. All five were asymptomatic at the time, A told the coroner on Tuesday.
She said staff who tested her knew she worked in aged care and told her because she was asymptomatic she could go to work.
While she was not rostered on to work the following two days on 6 and 7 July, she told a registered nurse at St Basil’s, Jagmeet Nagra, on 7 July that two of her family members were starting to experience “throat discomfort”. None of the five had yet received their test result. At the time, Victoria was experiencing a second wave of the virus leading to delays in test results being returned.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nagra confirmed to the court that she informed A she could come to work since she and her relatives were not displaying symptoms such as high temperature, runny nose, or cough. Nagra said this advice was also in line with the policy for staff at St Basil’s. Nagra broke down crying towards the end of her evidence after being questioned for almost three hours about infection control procedures at the home.
At the time, Victoria department of health and human services guidelines stated only those living in a high-risk area or displaying fever or chills, or acute respiratory infection, should get tested for Covid. People without symptoms should not be tested except in special circumstances, the advice stated, such as if they were a recovered case returning to work in a high-risk setting.
The care assistant A next worked at St Basil’s on 8 July, still asymptomatic and without her test result. But she said she received a text message from her husband during her shift which said her sister-in-law’s Covid test was positive.
“Straight away I packed my bag and came to my manager, put a mask on and explained everything … she sent me home so I could stay in isolation,” A told the court.
On 9 July, A received her test result which confirmed she had the virus. She texted and called the facility manager at St Basil’s, Vicky Kos, to tell her. Kos will give evidence to the inquest in the coming weeks.
“She said to me … you have to now stay in 14 days’ isolation. The department of health will contact you every day,” A said.
She disputed a statement from another St Basil’s staff member who said at the end of her shift on 5 July, A told other staff her family members had started to experience sore throats. A denied this and said she never experienced any symptoms – even after testing positive.
By the time A finished her isolation period, the virus had swept through the home leading to all staff being furloughed and replaced by agency staff in an attempt to contain the spread. A did not return to work at the home for about three months for this reason.
On Monday, the inquest heard there was an eight-day delay between A’s positive test result being reported to the state health department and the testing of all residents at the home. Guidelines recommended testing occur within four to six hours.
A specialist emergency physician Dr Ian Norton, who provided the coroner with a report into the home, said this delay was a “root cause” of the virus sweeping through the home.
Christine Golding, whose mother, Efraxia Tsalanidis, died after contracting the virus at the home, spoke of the “inhumane neglect” her mother experienced prior to her death due to staff being under-resourced and overwhelmed by sick patients. She recounted going to the home with other family members and banging on the doors of the home, desperate for managers to give them information.
Throughout July and August 2020, 94 residents and 94 staff members were infected. While 45 residents died from Covid-19, a further five died from neglect during the same period as the workforce succumbed to the virus and gaps were revealed in infection control, the court heard.
Over five weeks the coroner will examine how St Basil’s management and staff and the state and federal governments prepared for Covid in aged care; their responses when it hit; 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.
The inquest continues.
