Agenda item

The Director of Public Health will give a presentation on the current situation in relation to Covid-19 including recovery plans. This item will be in presentation format to ensure that the most up to date information can be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Assistant Director – Consultant in Public Health gave a presentation on the current situation in relation to Covid-19 including recovery plans. This item was in presentation format to ensure that the most up to date information could be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Key points raised during the presentation of the report included:

·        The case rate in York had been dropping rapidly, and were lower than the England and regional averages, with the lowest case rate in the Yorkshire and Humber Region.

·        There had been an increase in the number of cases in younger sections of the population, especially those aged 5-9.

·        The number of people admitted to hospital and the Intensive Treatment Unit with Covid-19 was considerably lower than the winter 2020/21 peak.

·        There had been 172 excess deaths in York since the start of 2020. Overall the number of deaths were around normal per-pandemic levels.

·        There were 13 care homes in York with confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 515 school-aged children who had tested positive in the 7 days leading up to 17/01/2022.

·        The vaccination programme had continued, with the greatest focus on those recently eligible for their first or second doses, especially those aged 12-15 or younger.

·        Overall, vaccine take-up was lower in younger age groups and more economically deprived wards of the city. Work was underway to reach those who had not been vaccinated, for example targeted pop-up clinics were being held in areas of low take-up.

Comments from the Chief Executive, York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on the situation in York Hospitals included:

·        That admissions to the hospital had plateaued in recent weeks, but he was anticipating admissions to begin reducing as the number of infections lowered.

·        The largest challenge was staffing, with absence rates among hospital workers sometimes going above 10%. There were some absences were decreasing, but it remained high.

In response to questions and comments from Board members, it was noted:

·        Data was available for the number of patients admitted to hospital who caught Covid-19 during the course of their treatment there. It was confirmed that all patients were tested on admissions and subsequently at regular intervals, however some infections were inevitable due to the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant.

·        It was suggested that members of the Public Health team speak to colleagues in Nimbus Care and the Clinical Commissioning Group to explore briefing ward councillors on levels of vaccine take up and intelligence around the reasons people may not be choosing to be vaccinated.

·        There were challenges around transport to vaccination sites for some residents, especially in the city centre where car ownership is relatively low. Pop-up vaccination centres helped with this, it was felt more could be done to encourage people to attend pop-up clinics and spread awareness of them.

·        Any residents having difficulties booking their booster vaccines, especially those with compromised immune system who have already had three primary injections, should present themselves to their GP who will be able to provide proof that they require another vaccination.

Resolved:

i.             That the contents of the update be noted.

Reason: To keep Board members up to date on the Covid-19 pandemic.