Agenda item

COVID-19 Update

Minutes:

Councillor Shah MOVED and Councillor Fielding SECONDED a report which provided an update on how the Council and its partners continued to monitor and manage the impact of Covid-19 in Oldham.

 

Covid-19 was still circulating in the UK and a rise in cases continued across Oldham every day.  The report summarised activity and demonstrated how the Council and its partners collectively managed and prevented the spread of Covid-19 across the Borough’s communities following the implementation of new restrictions. 

 

Over the past several months Covid-19 cases had risen in Oldham, across Greater Manchester and nationally.  As cases continued to rise across the UK, central government had introduced three-tier coronavirus alert levels.  On Friday, 23 October Oldham, with the rest of Greater Manchester, was placed into local Covid alert very high (Tier 3) restrictions.  Oldham’s response had been broken into four key themes:  Test, Trace, Enforcement & Compliance, and Community Engagement and Communications. 

 

The ongoing aim of Oldham Council’s local testing approach was to test at least 500 people/100,000 a day and to have testing sites operating in all districts of the borough each week.  Testing continued at a higher daily average than Greater Manchester and national counterparts.  A data and intelligence led mapping exercise had been undertaken to identify suitable local testing sites and was reviewed by the Testing Bronze Group.

 

The Council recognised that Test and Trace was both a key part of the immediate response to Covid-19 and a feature of the locality system for the foreseeable future.  Alongside other Greater Manchester Authorities, the Council had invested in a Greater Manchester Contact Tracing Hub which handled complex cases and situations referred on from the national contact tracing service.

 

The report also outlined information related to Enforcement and Compliance and Community Engagement and Communications.  The report also outlined the financial implications of the pandemic on the Council, the allocation of grants, specific Tier 3 support and business support at Tier 2.

 

Question received from Councillor Williamson:

 

“The enforcement of the mandatory wearing of face coverings in supermarkets and shops.  Whilst the wearing of face coverings has been mandatory in supermarkets and shops since July 24, there are still many instances of customers not wearing them whilst shopping.  Some customers are entitled to be exempted from wearing them on medical grounds, but the majority are not.  I know that unions and the British Retail Consortium have expressed concerns over the safety of staff asking customers to wear masks, so clearly it is not reasonable to expect shop staff to take sole responsibility for enforcing the law.  Can the Cabinet Member therefore please answer a two-part question?

What we as a local authority are doing to encourage retailers to promote the take up of the Sunflower Scheme whereby customers with a medical condition are issued with a lanyard identifying their exemption?  How this authority is working with retailers and with the Police to enforce compliance and to fine those individuals who are not exempted and who continue to flout the rules?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that the Council was working closely with the Police who were the enforcing authority for the wearing of facemasks and had undertaken joint visits to engage with supermarket operators.  In addition, the wider approach to national chains had been taken up at a Greater Manchester level and patrols had noted a significant improvement in the number of customers now wearing masks in supermarkets.  There was still work to do – and should Members be aware of or saw any particular failures they should be reported to the Police.  The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response confirmed that the approach with which the police approach customers was to first understand if an individual has an exemption from wearing a mask where this was evidenced, this was accepted in line with current Government guidance and could be as simple as an exemption card, badge or even a home-made sign. 

 

Question received from Councillor Harkness:

 

Covid outbreaks in schools – Regrettably there have been outbreaks of Covid-19 in clusters in certain schools in Oldham.  Can the Cabinet Member please tell update Council on which schools and how many children and staff have been affected to date?  And can the Cabinet Member also tell me how these outbreaks are being managed to ensure the safety of children and staff?  And how this is impacting on the education of our children?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that Oldham schools had been open for children of key workers and vulnerable pupils throughout lockdown and fully reopened at the start of September.  School and council staff worked closely to ensure that schools opened as safely as possible by meeting the guidelines set down by the Department for Education.  Attendance at the start of September was very strong with figures above the national and regional averages.  As schools started to be notified of positive cases, pupils and staff had followed advice from Public Health to isolate and attendance had dropped below the averages.  Most Oldham schools had now had positive cases which had resulted in bubbles of pupils and staff isolating.  In recent weeks an average 4,750 pupils and 130 staff had been isolating each day.  Council teams in Public Health and Education were in direct communication with Headteachers and continued to support them with preventative infection control and case management advice to ensure provision was safe.  If pupils were required to isolate from schools, then there was an obligation for online learning to be provided.

 

Question received from Councillor Al-Hamdani:

 

“Support for businesses during Lockdown ahead of new trading arrangements with EU – Given that the earliest date that this lockdown will end is only eight days ahead of the new trading arrangements with the EU come in, for businesses – in particular those which are closed during this lockdown – has there been any indication from the Government of when they will be making an announcement on this, and whether they will provide additional support for businesses which have been forcibly closed, especially if lockdown is extended? “

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that the new trading arrangements with the EU would begin on 1st January 2021.  Trade negotiations were ongoing but there were significant issues.  Concerns persisted within the business sector related to exporting/importing issues and border controls.  It was clear that the focus for the business community had been on managing the impact of Covid-19 whilst the Government continued to negotiate a deal.  The Council had been proactive in the promotion of the Business Growth Hub Brexit support programme which outlined 10 steps businesses needed to take and the opportunity to discuss issues with an advisor  The Council was supporting the GMCA Economic Resilience Group which had focussed Covid related issues but was also considering the impact of Brexit.  The impact of both Coronavirus and Brexit would be a recession.  Councils and GMCA were looking to develop/implement a recession package for businesses.  With regard to Covid related support, the Government held a live policy update on 4th November to outline what financial packages would be available for local businesses.  It was expected that this would include a grant payment for the four-week national lockdown (potentially between £1,334 and £3,000 per four weeks of closure for businesses with a rateable value).  The controversial Job Support Scheme had been suspended with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme being extended until December (increasing from 67 to 80% of salary from a maximum of £2,083 now up to a maximum of £2,500).

 

Question received from Councillor Hamblett:

 

“Reduction of essential services for patients – Due to Covid-19 restrictions, access to the services customarily provided by GPs and district nurses have become more limited. GP surgeries are closed, and consultations are often made over the telephone or by video link, technology which some patients find hard to access.  Some services provided in the home, such as district nurses providing B6 injections and chiropodists visiting elderly patients, appear to have disappeared.  My worry is that the longer this goes on the more harm will be caused to patients.  Can the Cabinet Member please tell me how this is impacting on the health of patients, and in the management of their conditions, and what active steps local health services are taking to ensure all patients, particularly those who are elderly, vulnerable or have chronic health conditions, can access the essential services they need?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that in March 2020 there was a national directive issued that all GP practices should move to a ‘triage first’ model in order to protect other patients and stem the spread of Covid-19.  This meant that where possible every patient would be screened for Covid-19 before attending and, where appropriate, should be treated remotely, either by phone or digital consultation.  GP Practices were also instructed to remain open for the delivery of face-to-face where a condition could not be treated remotely or the patient could not use the technology for any reason.  All patients who could manage digital solutions were encouraged to do so which allowed more telephone and face-to-face capacity for those who could not.  By way of hard data, the latest published data as at the end of August 2020 showed that appointments in General Practice had continued to rise to pre-Covid-19 levels during September and October.  While there had been a significant shift towards online and telephone consultations, the data showed that face-to-face consultations were still taking place across all practices and the number of home visits remained relatively unchanged to pre-Covid-19 levels.  During the height of the first wave of the pandemic General Practice supported colleagues in community nursing performing roles such as B12 injections usually performed by community teams.  It remained the case that any patient or their representative who had queries about accessing care should contact their registered practice in the first instance or the Clinical Commissioning Group team who would be able to assist.  Members were reminded that General Practices were also now focused on the restoration of routine chronic condition management and prevention services which included vaccination, screening and immunisation, contraception and health checks.  This year’s flu vaccination commenced in late September and as at the 21st October, 60% of people aged over 65 in Oldham had received the flu vaccination.

 

Question received from Councillor H. Gloster:

 

“False Positives – A study released in September by Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and the University of the West of England found that the polymerase chain reaction or PCR test, which is widely used to test Covid-19, can result in the detection of a large proportion of false positives.  According to Oxford University’s Professor Carl Heneghan, this is a situation in which the presence of ‘harmless virus particles which (a person’s) immune system has efficiently dealt with’ results in a positive test, despite that person being no longer infectious.  Previous reports have also indicated that the presence of antibodies in a person after infection can also similarly lead to a false positive test.  Given these situations would result in a greater number of positive tests being recorded than actual infectious persons, can the Cabinet Member please tell me if the PCR test is exclusively being carried out in Oldham’s testing centres, whether we know what the percentage of ‘false positives’ is, and whether any other secondary test to PCR is carried out to verify whether someone is actually infectious?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that the Local Testing Sites and Mobile Testing Units currently in operation all used PCR tests.  A PCR Test could tell if someone had the virus, however, it did not tell if someone was infectious.  This was not the same as a ‘false positive’.  The term ‘false positive’ was used when a test incorrectly identified someone as having the virus, rather than a term associated with the level infectivity.  Research published in the British Medical Journal suggested that the proportion of false positives from PCR tests for Coronavirus was in the region of 2%.  This figure would also vary depending on the characteristics of the population tested and did not tell if someone was likely to pass the virus onto others.  People were more likely to pass the infection to others if they had symptoms and it was known that approximately 90% of people who tested positive at local testing sites reported having symptoms when they booked their test.  Therefore, it was likely that a high proportion who tested positive were infectious, however, secondary tests were not available to confirm this.  Understanding whether someone was still infectious required additional analysis in laboratories and this was not currently part of the national testing programme for tests undertaken at local testing sites.

 

Question received from Councillor C. Gloster:

 

“The Employment of Covid Marshals – The Prime Minister announced on 9 September that an ‘army’ of COVID marshals would be employed nationwide to check that businesses are taking the contact details of customers and that social distancing is enforced enforce rules.  Then he announced that the marshals will have no new powers and that local authorities will not receive any new money and assistance to employ them.  Can the Cabinet Member tell me if Oldham Council has engaged any ‘marshals’, and, if so, how many and what their effectiveness has been?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that Oldham had adopted a 3 stage approach to compliance and enforcement – initially working with communities through door-to-door engagement; targeted communications through community networks; and information and intelligence sharing.  Follow up action supported through the additional funding enabled additional patrols which enabled wider engagement through engagement with the public to promote the necessity of social distancing and wearing face coverings; engagement with businesses and information monitoring of rules compliance (signage and physical compliance); collation of intelligence of non-compliance; information and intelligence sharing; and working closely with other multi-agency partners (Police, Community Safety, Environmental, etc).  This work provided a sound basis for informed and focussed enforcement through joint police and Council officer visits, particularly over evenings and weekends.

 

Question received from Councillor Sykes:

 

“Garden visits to care homes – Can the Cabinet Member please clearly define what form of support there is likely to be for our care homes after we enter Lockdown and will all residents of care homes continue to be able to receive regular virtual / garden visits or telephone calls from their relatives?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that there had been a significant amount of support in place for care homes and their residents since the outbreak of the pandemic and the movement into Tier 3 would not require a change to the support provided.  The care home situation was reviewed on a daily basis and any indications which suggested enhanced support was required either for any individual care home or across the sector were immediately addressed.  The following information summarised the support in place and the arrangements with regard to visiting:

·         Support was being offered by partners across the system to care homes, to ensure they could best care the most vulnerable people in these difficult times.  This included specialist GP support, including the provision of medical equipment, visits from the multi-disciplinary Supporting Treatment in Care Homes team (STICH) to offer practical nursing support; GP-led seminars on a range of topics; a care home liaison service for specialist mental health support; the introduction of a frailty app for additional support, a weekly newsletter to care homes with key information and advice; daily sit-rep calls to gain a ‘real time’ picture and a weekly Care Home Support Group meeting which consisted of senior clinical, social care, commissioning and quality representatives from across the system to identify priority areas which required rapid intervention and support. 

·         The Infection Control Grant had been implemented by DHSC to support care homes and other care providers to put in place effective measures to minimise the risk of infection.  Oldham’s allocation was £2.3m in Round 1 and £2.1m in Round 2.

·          A system wide risk assessment and individual risk assessment had been developed regarding care home admissions.  This had involved all parts of the system including the hospital and formed the basis of the approach to care home admissions. 

·         All care homes were following the Government’s Care Home Support Plan, which advised a period of 14-day isolation on admission and works on the basis of an assumption of Covid positivity. 

·         In line with national hospital discharge requirements, all patients being discharged to care homes were tested for Covid-19 prior to discharge.  In addition, staff were tested every 7 days and residents every 28 days.

·         On 12th October 2020, DHSC stated a requirement to put in place ‘designated settings’ for Covid positive individuals who would have ordinarily entered care homes.  The purpose was to provide care and support while people go through their 14-day isolation period and the arrangements were in the process of being finalised in Oldham. 

·         Whilst no care home visiting (other than essential visits by visiting professionals and visits by relatives in exceptional circumstances such as end of life) had been taking place in Oldham, from Friday 16 October closed window visiting was reintroduced and guidance issued to care homes to enable them to facilitate this in a safe way.  Care homes had also been requested to start to plan for more progressive visiting and submit their risk assessments for review.  Further guidance and a visiting framework for Greater Manchester was imminent and care homes would be worked with to implement this in a safe way.  With regard to other forms of contact, care homes had been provided with smart phones and given access to schemes which offered free ipads and these were widely used to support video calls with families and friends. 

 

Question received from Councillor Murphy:

 

“GP lists closed to new patients – Can the Cabinet Member also help to dispel any misinformation that GP surgeries have closed their lists to patients due to the pandemic who wish to change GP’s or have recently moved?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response reminded members that all GP practices in Oldham were and had remained open throughout the Covid pandemic.  Lists for new registrations had also remained open and there had been no change in rules regarding patient registrations.  Any person who moved house or wished to change GP practice for any other reason could register at the practice of their choice provided that they lived within the agreed practice boundary.  If any person experienced any challenges in respect of registration they should contact the Clinical Commissioning Group who would be able to provide advice and liaise with GP practices if required.

 

Question received from Councillor Garry:

 

“I would like some clarification, if any can be given, regarding the Covid-19 tests carried out by the NHS and the Covid-19 tests being carried out by private companies such as SERCO.  The Government has made much of its ‘World-Beating Covid-19 contact tracing application but now we hear that the app itself cannot handle NHS or Public Health England results.  The app itself returns to the following message: - ‘If your test took place in a Public Health England lab or NHS hospital, or as part of national surveillance testing conducted by the Office for National Statistics, test results cannot be linked with the app whether they’re positive or negative.’  If this is true then the one thing that the Government’s contact tracing app isn’t, is a National Health Service app.  It would appear the only data it can hold is that provided by Private organisations such as SERCO.  This raises a question regarding the doorstep testing that the Council has recently been organising. Do we know if that data is being picked up by the SERCO app or not?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that most tests for Covid-19 were undertaken under Pillar 1 or Pillar 2 of the national testing strategy.  Pillar 1 tests were those undertaken in NHS hospitals and through Public Health England laboratories, and Pillar 2 tests were those undertaken in the community and handled by commercial laboratories.  The vast majority of tests conducted in Oldham were Pillar 2, which included all tests at local testing sites and mobile testing units as well as those undertaken through door-to-door testing.

 

Question received from Councillor Phythian:

 

“Unfortunately for the people of Oldham and the country the Conservative Government have failed to provide a track and trace system that is fit for purpose, this is not helped by groups and individuals who persist in posting misleading or divisive information on social media.  I have been very concerned recently to see such posts from people who say they are proud of Oldham.  Post such as ‘The top two Corona-Virus hotspots in Oldham.  Werneth & Alexander.  Expect another police crackdown in Shaw, Chadderton, St. James’s, Medlock Vale, Royton and Saddleworth then.  Plus extra patrols outside The Granby in Uppermill.’  This was posted on the 24th October, and relates to MSOA data which is clearly being used in a selective manner to try and stimulate division at time when we should be pulling together.  The people of Oldham need clear and accurate information to help them understand how the corona virus is spreading and what steps have been put in place to try and reduce infection rates.  They definitely do not need information from keyboard warriors who fail to either understand or are unwilling to give the full facts.  Could the relevant Cabinet member, please tell us what if anything can be done, to prevent individuals and groups from posting misleading and divisive information on social media, could you also tell us how can residents ensure they are accessing accurate and up to date information?”

 

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that Coronavirus was one of the greatest challenges – if not the greatest challenge – most had ever faced.  During the pandemic, the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response had been heartened by the response from the borough’s communities and hard working Team Oldham staff.  People had volunteered to make a difference, checked on their neighbours and others across their communities and stepped up to keep people safe and supported.  Nothing less was expected from people in Oldham.  The borough had been through a lot, from the devastation of two World Wars, to the Shaw gas explosion and the Saddleworth Moor fires.  In the spirit of Oldham’s famous suffragette, Annie Kenney, people had shown strength, resilience and community spirit in the darkest of days.  As the pandemic continued and there were tighter restrictions this winter, it was more important than ever that attributes Oldhamers were famed for were demonstrated.  But, the comradery, determination and resilience was being picked apart by a minority who were attempting to use Coronavirus to sow hatred, intolerance and division.  They must not be let to succeed.  Posting misleading and divisive information on social media was absolutely unacceptable and would not be tolerated.  It would be called out and action taken when it was seen and others were urged to do the same.  Anyone who had been a victim of any sort of hate crime, including on social media, must report it to the police.  People could not be let to ‘get away with it’ and the people who spread hate did not represent the vast majority of Oldhamers.  The fact remained that the virus was circulating in all areas of the borough from Saddleworth to Shaw to St. Mary’s.  The engagement teams had been out and about across the Borough engaging with residents across all communities for that very reason, just as enforcement teams had taken action where restrictions were being breached.  The Council was committed to providing accurate and timely information on Coronavirus figures and updated the data on the Council’s website weekly.  Residents were urged to visit the website and other factual reliable sources of information.  People from all backgrounds had helped to fight back against the virus.  This must continue because the virus could not be beat if divided.

 

RESOLVED that:

1.         The update on Oldham’s response to Covid-19 pandemic be noted.

2.         The questions and responses provided be noted.

Supporting documents: