Minutes:
COVID-19 summary, BCP and Dorset Councils
As of 1st November – data taken from SW Alert tables
•BCP -197 cases per 100,000 population, testing positivity in pillar 2 is 7.4%
•Dorset –99.9cases per 100K pop -testing positivity in pillar 2 is 4.5% South West at 145 cases per 100k; England at 228 cases per 100K
•BCP Council 781cases in past 7 days (26 October to 1 November)
•Dorset Council 378 cases in past 7 days (26 October to 1 November)
•Age profile predominantly 16-29, but also infection rates have risen significantly in the over 65s in past week
•Household transmission is the single most important exposure setting, followed by visiting friends / family
•Also seeing outbreaks now in healthcare settings and workplaces –all being managed by joint work between public health, Council and NHS, but reflects increasing rates in community
•Currently 107 people in hospital with COVID in our local system –need to do all we can to prevent further infection rate rises, and admissions
•SW Region had fastest growing cases last week –reproduction rate R was 1.3 –1.6
Public Health Dorset: summary of recent work
•Delivered local outbreak management plans x 2 in July
•Completed action cards and operating procedures for high risk settings
•Continue to build EpiCell–weekly reports to the system
•Health Protection Board meets weekly –longer term programme of work established under “Contain and Enable”
•Full out of hours rota established 24/7 with consultant cover all the time
•Incident mailbox supported by fully staffed duty desk for acute response
•Working with both Councils and ICS partners on our Contain strategy
*communications and engagement
*rapid testing capability
* localised contact tracing, including welfare calls to all positive cases
Testing
•Around 2,000 people are being tested per day in each Council through the different services, community, healthcare, and via the national portal (including care home testing)
•Roughly 7.5 per cent of people are testing positive in BCP Council –this is higher than 4 weeks ago, and higher than neighbouring Council areas like Dorset, where positivity is 4-5%
•Please use the national testing portal to book your test –this is only required if you have symptoms of coronavirus
•Additional testing capability for people unable to drive to Creekmoor at Lansdown and Talbot campuses
•New rapid tests that give a result in 15 minutes are likely to be rolled out soon to support local test and trace, with further details expected imminently
Outlook for the next month
•When BCP and DC Councils come out of lockdown, we are aiming to emerge under the Tier 1 restrictions –medium risk; cases have levelled off in the past week –need to do all we can to keep cases down so we can balance impact on businesses
•Hospital services remain open for people needing care for non-COVID conditions –and during lockdown we will endeavour to continue to provide services –support will continue particularly for the most vulnerable
•Local outbreak engagement board continues to meet regularly to review the position, and develop clear messaging to our communities where issues are greatest
•Developing clear plans for how we contain the virus when we come out of lockdown –this could include more local test and trace
•Working at regional level on a plan to deliver against the new Contain outbreak management funding of £8 per head