Issue - meetings

To receive a presentation setting out what Oldham will do to contain Covid-19 over the next six months.  Updated presentation, 25^th January 2021.

The Board received a presentation introduced by Katrina Stephens, Director of Public Health which set out what Oldham planned to do to contain Covid-19 over the next six months.

The presentation reflected on the efforts across Team Oldham and local communities to respond to the unprecedented challenge to life posed by Covid-19, with Oldham suffering some of the highest rates of infections and deaths in the country.  A number of successes had been achieved by working together across Oldham and Greater Manchester, such as localised containment measures, improving Covid-safe practices across various settings and sectors, and supporting the most vulnerable.  The impact of Covid and the measures to contain it in Oldham had already had far reaching impacts, and had exacerbated health, social and economic inequalities both within Oldham and between Oldham and the rest of the UK.

Looking ahead to the next six months, there were a number of challenges to overcome but through collective action and scientific developments it was hoped that a position could be reached where the virus no longer posed a significant risk.  However, while Covid-19 continued to pose a very serious threat the Plan set out what Team Oldham will do to contain Covid-19 over the next six months. The Oldham Plan was based on the Greater Manchester Covid-19 Six-Month Plan, but contained specific detail about Oldham’s response, setting out how an evidence-based approach would be taken through the assessment framework which had been developed, and how work would be undertaken within the Government’s tiered approach to contain Covid.  Recognising the impacts that the containment measures have, the mitigations which will put in place over the next six months to support health, reduce social harms and protect the economy were also considered.  The Plan also set out what will be done in terms of the rollout of a vaccine and testing to enable us to live with Covid in the longer term.

The presentation gave detailed consideration to the impact of Covid-19 in Oldham; the containing of Covid-19; communicating, engaging and activating our communities; mitigating harms; and living with Covid-19, setting out priorities and planned actions for the coming six months in each case.

It was noted that action would be required from national Government over the coming months to support the Oldham and GM response to control the spread of the virus and to provide the support our individuals, communities and businesses need to survive the next six months. It was also recognised that the socioeconomic implications of Covid-19 may only just be starting to be seen and packages of further support would be required to ensure that GM is able to recover from the virus and we can continue to tackle the inequalities within Oldham, and between Oldham and the rest of the UK.

RESOLVED that the Oldham Six Month Plan for Covid be noted.