Meeting documents

To receive the verbal update.

The Board had a verbal update from the Director of Public Health on the latest published data on the Covid Pandemic.

The Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board: -

·         Welcomed the update and

·         Agreed to continue to reinforce the message- Wash hands, keep 2m distance, and test only when necessary.

The Board had a verbal update from the Director of Public Health on the latest published data on the Covid Pandemic. The figures for 16 September 2020 are:

·         1485 detected cases to date in Somerset

·         10 outbreaks being actively managed, 53 being kept under surveillance and 129 outbreaks have been closed.

·         The latest rate per 100,000 (the R number) is 7.8 which is below the current regional rate and the rate for England.

The Board were given the individual rate of each District with the highest being Mendip. Fortunately, there have been no deaths linked to Covid 19 reported. There has been a large increase in the number of people getting ill with Covid but these are mainly in younger people and they are not needing hospital treatment at the moment.

The Board were given a strong message to share that the limited capacity for testing needs to be preserved for those needing a test for their work such Health Care workers. There was a recognised problem with the national portal for booking tests and the Boards were assured this has now been rectified. The system is improving all the time but currently the limit for booking a test is 75 miles; it was recognised that this is not ideal, but capacity is being increased over the next couple of months.

The Board discussed the challenge of getting the right messages shared as there have been some instances of schools and workplaces asking people to have had a negative test before letting them return to work following an illness. It was confirmed that the advice being given to schools and workplaces that if someone is symptomatic, they need a test but if they have been asked to isolate following a possible contact then the test is not required unless they too display symptoms. After self-isolating for 14 days it was safe for people to return to work provided they did not have any symptoms. It was recognised that test results are now taking one or two days to be given and it was imperative that people continue to self-isolate while waiting for results.

A concern around PPE littering was raised and the advice given was that it should be regarded as hazardous waste and only picked up using appropriate protection and then hands should be washed for two minutes. The original messages about properly washing hands remains the best protection for everyone.

There was a suggestion that Community Nursing staff are not being given weekly tests as a routine and the Director for Public Health agreed to investigate and report back to the Board.

The Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board: -

·         Welcomed the update and

·         Agreed to continue to reinforce the message- Wash hands, keep 2m distance and test only when necessary.