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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Any member of the puiblic can view the live stream. Please see the link below and / or contact the Clerk for further details.

Contact: Karen Strahan / Stephanie Lewis  Email: karen.strahan@devon.gov.uk / Email: stephanie.lewis@devon.gov.uk

Note: To be conducted in line with The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020. To see the live stream, please copy and paste this link - https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NWY1ZGI0YWMtNDQ0MC00MWExLTgzNDQtNjkwYzFkYTExZTI4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%228da13783-cb68-443f-bb4b-997f77fd5bfb%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22092932fc-d274-4b6c-91b5-90e690141c3b%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d 

Media

Items
No. Item

31.

Notes of the Previous Board Meeting - 11 March 2021 pdf icon PDF 278 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The notes of the previous Board meeting on 11 March 2021 were endorsed.

32.

Urgent Items from the Health Protection Board

The Director of Public Health or their representative to report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Director of Public Health advised that there were no urgent items for escalation from the Health Protection Board.

 

33.

Report / Presentation from the Health Protection Board

A Report from the Health Protection Board on current issues, data and matters for information.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received a Report from the Health Protection Board on current issues, data and matters for information.

 

Matters included in the Report were as follows:

 

  • Easing of lock down – a reminder that social distancing rules still applied: Hands, Face, Space and Fresh Air
  • Mixing indoors was still not allowed – outdoor only
  • Small number of outbreaks – predominantly in workplaces, it was important to keep messages ongoing around facemasks and hand washing etc
  • Local Zero – DCC was working with the national test and trace system, which allowed them to take cases from day 1. This meant further support could be given to those individuals that had to self-isolate and helped to identify early signs of outbreaks.
  • Nationally case numbers had been decreasing (2,491 daily – further drop of 11.5% over the past week), as were the number of deaths (38 daily) and people in hospital (15% drop in the past week), and testing remained very high.
  • Local Picture: Devon had 58 cases in the past week, (7.2 per 100,000 population with the National average at 28.2). There had been 0 deaths recorded in the last week (0 per 100,000 compared to 0.2 nationally).
  • Trends – age profile: there had been a decrease across all age categories including in the 80+ category.
  • Would continue to monitor data as national restrictions eased.
  • Small outbreaks that were occurring had happened mainly in workplaces – it was important to continue to work from home where possible.

 

The data shown during the presentation was available at:

 

DCC Covid-19 Dashboard: Coronavirus dashboard and data in Devon -

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

 

National Coronavirus Tracker: Daily summary | Coronavirus in the UK

(data.gov.uk)

 

National Coronavirus Interactive Map: Interactive Map |

Coronavirus in the UK (data.gov.uk)

34.

Local and National Updates

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board noted the National easing of restrictions from 12 April.

 

35.

Vaccination Update

Representatives of the CCG to report and focus on:

 

·         Rollout progress

·         Supply, Targets and second doses, and

·         The Astra Zeneca position and under 30’s

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received an update from the Chair of Devon CCG outlining the following:

 

Vaccinations were now being offered to the 45-49 age category – the take up of appointments had been extremely good which showed the keen take up of people across the County to receive the vaccination; there were no major concerns around vaccination hesitancy. Over 650,000 people had received the first dose of the vaccine, and 1 in 10 adults had both vaccinations. The Moderna vaccine was now available in Devon as well – meaning all 3 vaccinees were available.

 

Hard to reach communities – work was ongoing to access vulnerable communities and distribute information about the vaccines.  A bus was going out to vaccinate harder to reach groups.  Engagement was also ongoing with communities where uptake would traditionally be quite low.

 

Astra Zeneca vaccine – data suggested a possible slight increase in potential thrombosis, about 4 in every million which was extremely low. The benefits of receiving the vaccine far outweighed this small risk. Research was ongoing to study the effect in the younger age category under 30s. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were being offered to those under 30.

 

Discussion points with Members included:

 

-       Hard to reach communities – potential challenge about communicating information in a fast paced and changing environment around vaccinations in multiple languages and easy read versions, for vulnerable communities.

 

36.

Testing Update

Tina Henry to present.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received an update from the Deputy Director of Public Health around new testing measures, including national twice weekly testing offered for all adults across the country. New messages and communications would be going out to promote this.

 

A fully mobile solution would be offered to facilitate community testing, with five vans currently serving 21 locations across Devon. These can also be used for community collect to take tests home. Will continue with the Community model until end of June and will be consistently monitored and reviewed. Pharmacies were also available for collecting home testing kits.

 

Information regarding the locations of the mobile community testing sites could be found at https://www.devon.gov.uk/coronavirus-advice-in-devon/book-a-covid-19-lateral-flow-test/

 

Further information about asymptomatic lateral flow testing in Devon was available on the Devon County Council website at devon.cc/testing

 

37.

Economic Reopening and Tourism

·         Step 2 of the roadmap (tourism / business / retail and events).

·         Key messages, enforcement and public health advice to be discussed.

·         All Board Members to contribute.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board discussed the national easing of restrictions from 12 April and the safe reopening of the tourism and hospitality sectors.  The Council continued to work with partners and national groups to aid the safe reopening of businesses, including national campaigns and the Local Resilience Forum, highlighting areas such as dog waking, wild camping and second homes. Further work continued on communicating the opportunity to support the hospitality sector in running safe summer events.

 

Police update – the bank holiday weekend post restrictions easing had generally seen compliance with guidelines around the max of 6 people mixing.  The busiest area was Exmouth, with a large number of groups of 6 congregating on the beach.  Communications with the community, schools and colleges had been conducted to provide messages around the guidelines - no enforcement tickets were given, mainly advice and education.  Plans were in place for dates around the further easing of restrictions and the Police were working with partners to manage those dates.

 

 

38.

Elections in a Covid Safe Environment

Devon County Council’s Returning Officer to present.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The County Solicitor advised that elections were due to take place in 3 weeks, and measures were in place to ensure they would be Covid secure.  There would be a slightly different feel to the elections; polling stations would be COVID safe, marshalling polling stations, one in and out systems in some places, face masks and hand sanitiser, and a restriction on the number of people that could attend the Count process. There was an ongoing communication campaign to highlight options of postal voting and to stress that attending polling stations was safe.

39.

Public Questions / Other Questions for the Board

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No further questions were raised.

 

40.

Key Messages to be Communicated pdf icon PDF 273 KB

The Board and Head of Communications and Media to consider any key messages to be communicated.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board and Head of Communications and Media considered the key messages coming from the meeting.

 

These included:

 

-       Easing of restrictions from 12 April

-       Safe reopening of hospitality and tourism sector

-       Continued messaging around social distancing

-       Community testing and twice weekly testing was now available

-       Workplace outbreaks and car sharing

-       Vaccination programme – continued to encourage take up and explain concerns around the Astra Zeneca vaccine.

 

Further detailed Communications were attached to these minutes.

 

 

 

41.

Date of Next Meeting

Future Meetings will be arranged after the Elections.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted the date of the next meeting would be confirmed post elections.


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