Lessons from a successful public health response to COVID‐19 in a New South Wales residential aged care facility, 2020

Abstract

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 13 © 2021 The Authors This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Outbreaks of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in residential aged care facilities (RACF) have been responsible for approximately 75% of all COVID-19-related deaths in Australia, including 61 deaths in New South Wales (NSW) and 644 deaths in Victoria (as of 6 October 2020).1 While risks for the elderly and those in RACFs are well described, there is limited literature documenting effective public health responses to COVID-19 in RACF settings. In this commentary, we analyse the preparation for, and response to, the detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a healthcare worker (HCW) of a large RACF in Sydney, Australia. We reflect on the lessons learned and make recommendations to support others’ response efforts and support regulatory reform.