While most of the country goes about their normal lives in spite of COVID numbers, there are currently outbreaks at 825 residential homes nationwide with 8562 active COVID-cases. And staffing has been a continual problem for providers who say that keeping and attracting new staff would alleviate many issues.

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During the election campaign Labor pledged $2.5 billion over four years to improve aged care, including a pledge to mandate staff to patient ratios and nurses on site 24/7.

Care manager at Gumleigh Gardens aged care home Christine Fulthorpe said she hopes the new government keeps its word.

"We're hoping that staff hours will be mandated. We're hoping that they will fund having the 24-hour registered nurses in aged care," she said.

"We're one of the only facilities that don't have 24-hour registered nurses at the moment ... the residents now coming in are a lot frailer that require the extra RN support after hours."

Miss Fulthorpe has faced staffing issues through this year with the rise of the Omicron variant, but she said that the new government needs to urgently address staff pay.

"Besides COVID, we're losing a lot of staff to [the disability sector] because they're paying a lot higher, anywhere from $8-10 an hour," she said.

"To keep ourselves competitive and attract staff we need to make sure we're paying them appropriately.

"They're not getting paid enough for what they do."

The chief executive of the Forrest Centre in Wagga Evan Robertson previously told the Daily Advertiser that until a government enacts the recommendations from the royal commission regarding staff wages, or making aged care a more attractive career, providers will continue to struggle.

"Staffing has been an issue for quite some time, it's been exacerbated by COVID. But, to be perfectly frank, it's probably why the industry went through a royal commission in the first place ... if you can't get staffing right, that's when cracks appear in other areas," he said.

Labor has also promised to support workers' calls for better pay at the Fair Work Commission and fund the outcome of the case.

Brett Field is a care service employee at Gumleigh Gardens and he'll believe that change is on the way when he sees the proof.

"Aged care is forgotten until someone needs aged care," he said. "Actions definitely do speak louder than words."

Miss Fulthorpe worries that the sector could be forgotten, as it has been by previous governments.

"In [Anthony Albanese's] speech, when he was appointed, it didn't come up as a priority. And I feel if it was in the forefront of their priorities it would have been mentioned," she said.

"I don't feel we're going to see what's required."

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