More than 3000 Australians have died with COVID-19 in aged care facilities this year, triple the number of deaths in nursing homes during the first two years of the pandemic.
An analysis of federal health data shows that while COVID-related deaths in aged care began to soar with the arrival of Omicron and the removal of restrictions within the community, they have increased by 36 per cent since the election of the Albanese government in May.
However, as the overall number of COVID-related deaths in aged care has increased, the death rate for people in nursing homes infected with COVID-19 has dropped dramatically – from 33 per cent in 2020 to 3.5 per cent in 2022.
Labor introduced a “winter plan” to help deal with the escalating wave of cases in the community, and last week passed a bill in parliament to overhaul the sector which includes a mandate for aged care homes to have 24/7 nurses. But there is growing concern that the thousands of deaths in aged care this year are not being sufficiently scrutinised.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie said the nation was struggling from “COVID fatigue” and suggested the media and politicians were no longer holding the government to account.
“In 2020, this would have been on the front page every day. It also would have been a question in question time every day,” said Sharkie, whose regional electorate of Mayo has the oldest age demographic in South Australia.
“So I think we all have a role to play in making sure that we’re all accountable for this.
“Those statistics that you quoted to me are terrifying. And I think if I had a parent or grandparent in aged care, I’d be very worried.”
Sharkie noted that in 2020 and 2021 the then-aged care minister Richard Colbeck was asked a question most days in federal parliament about how many people had died, but now there was a lack of scrutiny.
“I think there’s probably an element of COVID fatigue in the media and perhaps in the parliament,” she said.
“It’s almost like there’s a political will for COVID to go away, and it hasn’t gone away. So we’re just not going to really talk about it anymore.”
An average of 102 people with COVID-19 are dying every week since election day, compared to a weekly average of 75 under the Coalition for the first five months of this year, or nine during 2020 and 2021.
More COVID-related deaths in aged care facilities have occurred under Labor in its first three months of government (1431) than under the Coalition over the first two years of the pandemic (917).
There were 1498 reported deaths under the Coalition up to May 19 this year.
However, the death rate from COVID in aged care has gone down. In 2020, more than 33 per cent of COVID cases in residents resulted in deaths, but this has dropped to 3.5 per cent in 2022.
In July this year, there were at times more than 10,000 people infected with the virus in aged care facilities. This compared to just 21 cases at the same time last year.
Paul Sadler, the interim chief executive of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, said his organisation was concerned about the increase in COVID-19 deaths. But he said it was important to note that the number of COVID cases and outbreaks in aged care facilities has been falling in recent weeks along with the reduction in COVID-19 cases in the community.
“With COVID in the community Australia-wide, the increase in infections during the first Omicron wave in December 2021 to February 2022, and then the latest wave in winter sadly proved to be deadly to many vulnerable older Australians in care,” he said.
Sadler said aged care providers were remaining vigilant by maintaining infection protocols and urging residents, visitors, clients, and staff to keep up to date with vaccinations.
Opposition aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston accused Labor of being “hypocritical”, saying in opposition it was highly critical of the way the Coalition had handled the pandemic but it was doing worse in government.
“They are tracking in exactly the opposite direction from everything that they said they were going to do and everything they criticised us for not doing,” she said.
“Have they done everything they possibly could do to try and reduce the impact of COVID in aged care homes? Or are they more focused on ticking and flicking election commitments that don’t have any impact for many, many months?”
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said every death in Australia due to COVID-19, including those in aged care, was a “tragedy”.
She said one of the first acts of the Albanese government was to put in place its winter plan.
“Due to continued access to antiviral treatments and vaccination, as well as greater preparedness in the sector, we have seen a dramatic reduction in the case fatality rate,” she said.
“We’ve left no stone unturned in managing the response to COVID-19 in aged care.
“We have extended the ADF’s role in aged care until the end of September and have a surge workforce that provided 1704 shifts last week.”