Almost 770 cases of coronavirus in Victoria are linked to aged care centres, and residents from those homes are featuring heavily in the daily death toll.
On Tuesday alone, four of the six people who died from the virus were aged care residents, bringing the state's Health Minister Jenny Mikakos close to tears.
There are now 80 outbreaks of COVID-19 in aged care, including Epping Gardens aged care in Melbourne's north, which saw cases balloon from two last week to 82 on Tuesday.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said more deaths should be expected and described the numbers as "volatile".
Premier Daniel Andrews said he no longer had confidence the private aged care sector could protect its residents.
So what's being done to help?
Non-urgent elective surgeries suspended
With several aged care homes overwhelmed by outbreaks, the State Government has announced a halt to the majority of elective surgeries, to free up more staff to move into those homes.
It means all non-urgent category two elective surgery across public and private hospitals in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will be suspended from today.
But Mr Andrews said the state would try to carry out some surgeries which were already scheduled to go ahead in the near future.
Category three surgeries were postponed earlier this month.
Category one, the most urgent category two procedures and IVF treatment will go ahead.
The move means beds and equipment will be freed up, and hospital nurses can be redirected to aged care which is experiencing shortages in staff due to the tens of outbreaks.
Is every aged care home with an outbreak being evacuated?
Not quite.
While Menarock Life aged care in Essendon has closed, other homes with large outbreaks, such as St Basil's and Epping Gardens, remain open.
Mr Andrews said responding to the aged care crisis was "a critical challenge" and the decision to move residents would be made on a "case-by-case basis".
Ms Mikakos said more than 170 aged care home residents had been transferred to public and private hospitals in recent days.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services said another 50 would be transferred in coming days.
Mr Andrews said moving residents could cause significant distress and confusion in elderly people and the "vast majority" of residents would be safer remaining in their home.
However, he clarified residents would be moved if there was evidence the virus was not being contained by an aged care provider.
"What has been going on in these settings is not acceptable," he said.
Who is going into aged care homes?
About half of the infections stemming from aged care facilities have presented in staff, with the subsequent isolation and quarantine process creating staff shortages in homes.
Mr Andrews said registered nurses had already been sent to St Basil's aged care in Fawkner "to support the care and the wellbeing of those residents".
Aspen Medical, which was sent in to help fight the outbreak at Newmarch House aged care in Sydney, has also been deployed to St Basil's by the Federal Government.
And Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a press conference on Tuesday that Australian Defence Force nurses had been moved to an aged care home in Melbourne at 11:00pm on Monday.
Mr Morrison also said many staff had been stood down after "community transmission found its way into the aged care workforce".
"[That] has had a very significant disruption to the provision of care," he said.
He said the gaps would be "plugged" wherever possible but it was not an easy job.
"Especially given the complexity and difficulty of the situation they are facing."
Is anyone else is coming to help the fight?
The Federal Government has also confirmed it will send Australian Medical Assistant Teams (AUSMAT) to Victoria to assist with the crisis.
The teams are often deployed to overseas humanitarian crises and natural disasters as emergency medical responders.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said AUSMAT teams were "the SAS of the medical world".
"They've assisted in quarantine, they've assisted in Western Australia, they've assisted in activities around the country and they are the best of the best," he said.
The Federal Government is also putting out a call for nurses from interstate, and allocating an extra 5 million masks and 500,00 face shields for the aged care sector in Victoria from the national medical stockpile.
Will there be an inquiry into the aged care home outbreaks?
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said he hoped to have an investigation into the outbreak at St Basil's aged care home up and running as soon as possible while people held fresh and accurate memories of how things were handled.
Several families have expressed concern to the ABC about what they say was a relaxed attitude around the use of masks, basic infection control measures and communication in the early stages of the outbreak, which began on July 9.
St Basil's has defended its response to the outbreak, saying staff have worn masks on every shift since they were made mandatory by the Federal Government on July 13.
"There's a lot of concern, fear and passion in the community about it," Senator Colbeck told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"I was on a Zoom meeting with [St Basil's] families on Sunday night and there were quite a few questions and those people deserve to have their questions answered."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA3LTI4L3ZpY3RvcmlhLXN1cmdlcnktc3VzcGVuZGVkLWFnZWQtY2FyZS1yZXNpZGVudHMtbW92ZS10by1ob3NwaXRhbC8xMjQ5OTE1ONIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjQ5OTE1OA?oc=5
2020-07-28 06:44:00Z
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