A home care client at one of Illawarra's largest aged care providers has tested positive for COVID-19.
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Warrigal CEO Mark Sewell said the client - who lives in the Shoalhaven - had been checked at hospital and was now under the supervision of their GP and the district's public health unit.
"The person with the illness is being called by us daily to ensure they are recovering well at home," he said.
Mr Sewell said no staff members had been in contact with the client for over two weeks, so they were not required to go into isolation.
"Whilst there have been no staff, residents or other customers that have tested positive, or no evidence of having been put in harms way of being exposed to COVID-19 to date, the nature of this pandemic has required us to continue to take strong precautionary action to ensure everyone in our large community of services remains safe," he said.
"I want to reassure everyone associated with Warrigal that we are implementing all possible methods to prevent the spread of this new, evolving health issue in our community."
Warrigal's strategies have included the establishment of a COVID-19 prevention and response team that meets multiple times a week.
As well, all home care clients were receiving telephone welfare checks prior to visits in order to assess risks to staff and other Warrigal clients.
There are also visitor restrictions at all of Warrigal's residential care homes in the Illawarra, Southern Highlands and Queanbeyan, plus increased resident and staff screening procedures.
Unnecessary travel between sites and services has also been stopped to prevent cross contamination risks.
"We are determined to protect the whole Warrigal community including our residents, other customers, families, other visitors and all our staff and volunteers," Mr Sewell said.
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