The effect of residential aged care facility COVID-19 lockdowns on resident mortality

Aims This perspective is exploring the effect of residential aged care facility COVID-19 lockdowns on resident mortality. Relevance People living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) are at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and death. In Australia, COVID-19 infections in RACF residents represented seven percent of recorded infections and the case fatality rate (CFR) was 33%. RACFs were categorised as high-risk settings for COVID-19 and a number of measures to reduce the risk of acquiring COVID-19 were implemented at the National and State and Territory levels, such as strict infection control, monitoring, testing, vaccination and increased clinical capacity Methods All COVID-19 infections and deaths in the 12-months from 15 October 2021 to 14 October 2022 for the cohort of residents living in an Australian RACF (except Western Australia) at the beginning of this period were analysed. Key points ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Data is openly available at I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data used in this manuscript is available online at