Disability homes at risk of Covid-19 exposure, royal commission hears

Carers working across multiple disability group homes and the aged care sector could spread the virus into the disability community, the royal commission has heard. Prof Anne Kavanagh, the director of the Disability Institute at the University of Melbourne, said on Thursday federal and state authorities needed to look at ways to ensure “minimised movement of workers”, and also warned about a lack of PPE training for some carers. Describing a “perfect storm”, she said that the closure of NDIS day-programs once lockdowns began meant carers “started working across multiple group homes because the residents were home more”. “That’s a real issue and some of them work for multiple service providers and some work in aged care,” she said.