Agenda item

To consider and sign off the Local Outbreak Management Plan. (Report to follow).

Bruce Laurence – 11.50am – 30 minutes

(Note: At this point Dr Andrew Smith left the meeting).

The Board considered a report which set out details of the B&NES Covid-19 Local Outbreak Management Plan.

Bruce Laurence, Director of Public Health, presented the report highlighting the following issues:

·  There has been a huge decline in air traffic at local airports showing the huge impact that the Covid-19 outbreak has had.

·  The Plan provides a framework for managing local outbreaks.  However, there is still a lot that is unknown about this disease and it will be important to adapt.  B&NES has a strong history of planning and partnerships and so is in a good position to deal with an outbreak.  The Plan has been prepared under a short timeframe and is likely to evolve over time as more information and data become available.

·  There have been 330 cases of Covid-19 in the B&NES area and 89 deaths, 50 of which occurred in care homes.  The area has the seventh lowest rate in England out of 150 local authority areas. About 95% of the population still have no immunity to the disease and little is currently known about immunity or how long it lasts.  There are inequalities both in cases and outcomes.

·  There is no certainty about future outbreaks.  It is important not to become complacent as the lockdown is slowly released.

·  Nationally about 1 in 1,700 people currently have Covid-19 but this figure is likely to be lower in the B&NES area.

Will Godfrey thanked Bruce Laurence and his team for preparing this report.  He noted that the messages around Covid-19 are complex narratives and that it will be very important to avoid complacency over the next few weeks.

Kate Morton stressed the importance of not losing sight of the long-term consequences of the pandemic and to be prepared for the work and services that would be required to deal with this.

Bernie Morley stated that the report was very helpful and that he would share it among his colleagues at Bath University.  He asked whether a mobile testing facility could be made available at the University when all the students return in the autumn.

Cllr Rob Appleyard thanked officers for producing this complex document in such a short period of time.

A copy of the presentation slides is attached as Appendix 5 to these minutes.

RESOLVED:

(1)  To endorse the Covid-19 Local Outbreak Management Plan as a framework plan for B&NES and to recommend it for approval by Cabinet.

(2)  To support further work on developing detailed planning that will underpin this outline plan.

(3)  To endorse the roles of the Covid-19 Health Protection and Local Outbreak Engagement boards and agree to receive updates from these boards as required.

(4)  To agree that members of the Board use their influence to further the aims of the plan in their different organisations.

(5)  To support, in general, the use of appropriate resources to enable the effective implantation of the plan (but to note that endorsing this framework does not commit to any specific expenditure).