An Auckland rest home resident has contracted Covid-19, amid reports the families of other residents were worried about the amount of testing at the facility.
The Ellerslie Gardens Lifecare resident was taken to Auckland Hospital on Tuesday and confirmed as having coronavirus yesterday.
Heritage Lifecare chief executive Norah Barlow saidthe man was still in hospital but his prognosis seemed "very good", according to a relative she had been speaking to earlier.
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"What we are doing is making sure all the other residents are well, and we are pushing for as many people as we can to get tested," Barlow said.
The man was the second person to test positive to coronavirus after a nurse also earlier contracted the virus.
She had returned from Zimbabwe on March 10 and - due to there being no travel restrictions or self-isolation rules in place - returned to work on March 15 for her night shift.
After she tested positive on March 21, 11 residents who had close contact with the nurse were put into isolation.
Following the latest positive test of the resident, Barlow said her team had rang all staff members and residents' families to talk them through the situation, while also sending out a letter.
Health teams would now arrive at the facility tomorrow to begin contact tracing and decide what measures were needed.
"At the moment everybody is in isolation and that means all the meals are in their rooms and we will do that until we are sure that there was only one positive test," Barlow said.
She said normally, staff would look after residents wearing masks and gloves.
"But when you are dealing with people who have an infection or who are in isolation for a reason then it is while wearing a full gown and even face shields," she said.
Staff at Ellerslie were well stocked with a full suite of personal protection equipment, she said.
Barlow said social distancing measures had been adhered to at aged care home for sometime now.
She also said while the home knew which staff had been caring for the man who tested positive to the virus, it was too early to say how many other people might been in close contact.
This would be done with the help of professional contact tracing teams.
When the nurse earlier tested positive to coronavirus a family member of a resident - who spoke to the Herald on the provision he was not named - said he was outraged a staff member had been allowed to arrive from overseas and then go to work with society's most vulnerable residents.
In the letter Heritage Life sent to families yesterday, it said there had been a reluctance to test residents unless they had symptoms, according to Stuff.
"We will be doing everything within in our power to get these tests done," the letter said.
"We realise this is a very stressful time for families, and we are so sorry that this will add to the already stressful situation of lockdown level 4."
A family member of one resident told Stuff it "boggles the mind" testing was not being done on all of those at the rest home, given the Government had loosened test criteria.
"It's still not good enough rest homes aren't being tested," he said.
