Families of residents of a Melbourne nursing home that has been linked to 74 coronavirus cases have expressed anger and fear about the handling of the outbreak in the facility.
Key points:
- There are 74 cases linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner, an increase of one since Friday
- The daughter of a woman still in the home say she has not been able to get answers to her questions about her mother’s status
- The Federal Aged Care Minister says extra staff have been brought in to manage the outbreak and communicate with families
John Atzarakis was told on Tuesday his mother, 77-year-old Fotini Atzarakis, would not survive the coronavirus infection she picked up at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner, in Melbourne’s north.
Despite the predictions of doctors at the Austin Hospital where she is being treated with maximum oxygen, Mr Atzarakis’s mother has so far defied the odds.
He attributes that to her determined spirit, which has already seen her survive 14 years of Parkinson’s disease.
“But it’s just not going to be the case because of this.”
One more coronavirus infection was linked to St Basil’s on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases linked to the home to 74.
It is the largest of Victoria’s aged care outbreaks, which account for 536 of the state’s almost 4,000 active cases.
It was nearly one month ago that Mr Atzarakis’s family made the decision to check his mother into St Basil’s for a spell of respite care.
But as