The For-Profit Aged-Care Industry Has Led to Crisis
The epicenter of Melbourne’s COVID-19 outbreak is, predictably, aged-care homes, where years of marketization have led to an industry based on low wages, understaffing, and cost cutting. Amid the tragedy taking place in aged care, we need to call for an overhaul of the entire for-profit system.
Many aged-care facilities are overcrowded and underfunded, staffed by a precarious and undervalued workforce. (David Ramos / Getty Images)
According to data collected from twenty-six countries, residents of aged-care homes make up 47 percent of COVID-19 associated deaths so far. In Melbourne, which, despite its earlier lockdown, has been hit with a wave of runaway infections since early July, care homes have become one of the predictable flash points of the crisis. There are at least 1,000 active cases among staff and residents in aged care, linked to 103 aged-care homes across Victoria.
Viruses, such as influenza, have long been the scourge of care homes where large numbers of frail and immunocompromised people live in close proximity. COVID-19 is much more deadly and transmissible than a seasonal flu.
Yet the high rates of infection and death in aged care were not inevitable. Many aged-care facilities are overcrowded and underfunded. They are staffed by a precarious and undervalued workforce, often working at multiple homes on casual contracts that provide no sick leave.
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