An updated Direction has been issued which details new changes for entry into residential aged care facilities in South Australia.
On 10 April 2020, the State Coordinator made a Direction under the Emergency Management Act 2004 to limit entry into residential aged care facilities.
The Emergency Management (Residential Aged Care Facilities No 2) (COVID-19) Direction 2020 has been revoked and replaced by the Emergency Management (Residential Aged Care Facilities No 3) (COVID-19) Direction 2020.
The updated Direction still includes various restrictions around entry into residential aged care facilities, however major changes include:
· End of life support visits are now exempt from 14 days quarantine, provided visitors quarantine when not visiting the facility, this relates to interstate travellers.
· Chief Executive SA Health and delegated authorised officers can now provide conditional or unconditional exemption to the direction in exceptional circumstances.
· The other changes relate to entry by emergency services personnel in the case of an emergency and to entry by persons (such as SAAS and Health professionals) who may have had contact with COVID-19 positive people but were wearing appropriate PPE at that time.
This new Direction came into effect on 21 April 2020 at 8:45am.
Members of the public are urged to read the direction, which includes the full list of entry restrictions and exemptions. It can be found here: https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/emergency-declarations/aged-care
If you require further information you can call the SA COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787 between the hours of 8am to 8pm seven days a week or go to the SA Health website at www.sahealth.sa.gov.au or www.sa.gov.au/covid-19
