Damned if you do, damned if you don’t: COVID-19 aged care visitor bans
Providers faced a difficult decision when it came to deciding whether or not to allow some visitors into their homes at this point in the COVID-19 crisis. They could either follow the government’s guidelines and place tight restrictions on visits from friends and family, or go into complete lockdown, imposing a total ban on visitors.
Neither option is desirable, yet one of these choices, or a variation of them, is necessary. Restricting visitor numbers is one of the surest ways to prevent staff and aged care residents from contracting coronavirus and preventing the disease from spreading.
Every provider in the country has faced the dilemma.
And yet, instead of showing understanding towards the tough circumstances aged care providers find themselves in and respecting their decisions, responses to providers’ COVID-19 visitor policies from the community have been mixed.
