‘There’s no room for virus complacency’

The enviably low infection rate in Bath and North East Somerset could result in an influx of “Covid refugees”, a councillor has claimed.

The district set a record length of time, nearly a month, without a new recorded infection but that run was broken with two positive tests over the weekend.

Elected officials have praised the public for following government guidance on social distancing, washing hands and wearing PPE but insisted “we can’t take our eye off the ball”.

Some 90 residents have lost their lives to Covid-19 but like much of the South West, Bath and North East Somerset has fared well compared to the rest of the country.

Dr Bruce Laurence, the council’s director of public health, said the reasons why were not fully understood but there were likely to be a variety of factors at play.

He said: “Some of the more likely ones include our rurality and smaller numbers of big and crowded urban centres, a greater number of people with the sort of jobs that they can do from home, good general health indicators around levels of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory disease and smoking, and fewer residents from black and minority ethnic groups with their greater vulnerability.

“The one thing most experts do agree on is that as we now are easing restrictions quite significantly, we are treading a fairly fine line between maintaining control of the outbreak and letting it rip again, with limited room for manoeuvre and none at all for complacency.

“Individual and collective behaviour matters so much, and it is the work of the council and its partners to encourage people to take preventive measures seriously, including social distancing and good basic hygiene, even as we all begin to emerge from lockdown. We must remember that the virus doesn’t change its behaviour just because we change the rules.”

Speaking at the children, adults, health and wellbeing scrutiny panel meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Eleanor Jackson said parents were already leaving London for Bath and North East Somerset to give their children a better education. She added: “People are going to leave urban areas. Bath and North East Somerset is top of the list. We’re going to have Covid refugees.”

Councillor Rob Appleyard, the cabinet member for adult services, said: “We now have a local outbreak management plan. Should we encounter another outbreak, we’ll be able to hit the ground running.

“We’ve been fortunate and had low numbers. We shouldn’t take our eye off the ball and think we aren’t going to be exposed to winter pressures.”

He said the council was trying to secure mobile testing units for Bath’s two universities to prepare for the arrival of students from across the country and overseas.

Lesley Hutchinson, the council’s director of adult social care, complex and specialist commissioning, said if care homes have a supply of less than 48 hours’ worth of PPE they can ask the council or CCG for help. She said that was enhanced by the new offer of tests every 28 days for care home residents and every week for staff.