Verbal Update by the Director of Public Health
Minutes:
The Director of Public Health provided Members with an update on the Darlington Outbreak Control Plan and in doing so advised Members that since testing began there had been 630 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Darlington; Darlington had not seen any significant outbreaks since June 2020; and in the last seven to ten days there had been an increase in confirmed cases in Darlington from one to two cases per week up to eleven, with the majority in the 18 to 30 year age group.
It was reported that care homes in Darlington had not seen an increase in confirmed cases and there had been no significant outbreaks in work places in Darlington.
Details were provided of Darlington’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic which was being closely monitored via a number of forums at a regional and local level. This included three regional Local Resilience Forums; Darlington Health Protection Board which met fortnightly and closely monitored Darlington’s outbreak control plan; and the North East Directors of Public Health Network which met weekly to share cross border information about outbreaks and joint planning.
Discussion ensued on the potential increase in the number of confirmed cases following the commencement of the new school year; and timeliness of information received from the government. Members were assured that the Local Authority Public Health team were working closely with all education settings in Darlington; the Public Health Principal received and scrutinised the NHS Test and Trace data daily; and that whilst the test and trace data had improved, this was received a few days in arrears, hence the need for good information and local intelligence sharing between agencies.
Concern was made in respect of the leisure and hospital sector and the need for consistent messages was highlighted. The importance of Members’ roles in sharing messages, providing local intelligence and views was reiterated and Members agreed that it would be beneficial for them to receive regular messages to be cascaded to residents within their wards.
The Communications Officer, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust provided an update on the Trust’s current situation; that whilst confirmed COVID-19 cases had been increasing across the county, this was not being seen in the number of admissions to hospitals. This may in part be due to the age of those testing positive for COVID-19, as younger people did not appear to be as badly affected by the virus; however it was reiterated that the virus was still very serious.
Discussion also ensued on testing for those that were asymptomatic.
RESOLVED – That the Director of Public Health be thanked for providing an update on the Darlington Outbreak Control Plan.