Rural care homes abandoned by government's Covid-19 testing warns Councillor
A Conwy county councillor has warned that smaller, rural care homes will not be tested for the Coronavirus by the Welsh Government.
Councillor Aaron Wynne, who represents Llanrwst on Conwy Council, and is Plaid Cymru's Senedd candidate for Aberconwy, was reacting to the news that the Welsh Government is to begin testing in care homes of 50 residents or more, regardless of whether any residents have symptoms or not.
The policy reversal follows heavy pressure from Plaid Cymru Assembly Members to begin testing and tracing in care homes – some of which have been devastated by heavy loss of life during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Plaid Cymru is calling for the policy to be extended to all care homes, not just the larger ones, both in the public and private sectors.
Councillor Aaron Wynne said;
“Testing in care homes where there are no symptoms of this virus must be universal.
"It is not right to penalise the staff and residents of smaller, rural care homes. All staff and residents deserve to have the confidence that Covid-19 is not present and being transmitted before symptoms begin to show.
“We know from the World Health Organisation that coronavirus can have an incubation period of 14 days which means the virus can be well established in any care home before the first person with it begins to fall ill.
“This Labour government policy favours urban areas where large care homes are much more common than in the rural areas. It creates a postcode lottery that is unfair to smaller care home residents, their families and the staff.”
