25 January 2022
Since our last update, we are pleased to advise you that the residents who tested positive to COVID-19 are now recovering, or are asymptomatic. These residents are located on the ground floor. We do have a small number of residents who are showing minor symptoms of respiratory illness, but pleasingly, they have returned negative COVID-19 results to date. They are being closely monitored.
Residents on the ground floor who are not affected by COVID-19 are able to enjoy individual time in the gardens if they wish to.
Residents on the first floor of Whiddon Casino are doing well and are not showing any symptoms of the virus. We are waiting for advice from the local Public Health Unit as to when residents on this level may be able to leave their rooms. We do hope that this advice will be forthcoming over the next day or so. Please note that we will need to ask these residents not to access the ground floor for now as a precaution.
For now, visits can be booked on compassionate grounds or for essential caring. If you wish to request a visit under such grounds, please contact the Director Care Services.
We hope that the visitation restrictions can be eased slightly this week for those who wish to visit residents on the first floor. Again, we are awaiting for advice on this from the local Public Health Unit, which we hope will be provided very soon.
Whiddon Casino employees impacted by community transmission of COVID are mostly recovered now and several have completed their isolation and are returning to work. We do have an additional employee who tested positive yesterday, on 24 January. This was acquired from exposure in the community and is considered a very low risk to residents due to the personal protective equipment we have been using throughout the past two weeks.
We know this is a challenging time. Our teams are working hard to keep you connected with your loved ones at this time. If you would like to book in a video or phone call, please talk to our administration team on 02 6661 2300.
We will provide a further update to you later in the week.