Mental health the focus as council's Covid management continues

Promoting testing and vaccines as well as “promoting positive behaviours” will also continue to be a priority for Dudley Council after the latest relaxation of Covid-19 rules.

At a health and adult social care scrutiny committee, councillors discussed the local outbreak management plan as well as updates on local and national Covid-19 developments.

One key development included the council focusing on promoting mental wellbeing.

The authority has been given an extra £2.2 million for its dedicated coronavirus outbreak management fund for the 2021/22 financial year.

Meanwhile £3.7m of the £8m awarded last year has been carried over - giving the council nearly £6m, of cash to spend on managing the pandemic.

It was also given £1.9m under the Test & Trace support grant, which was fully spent last year.

This funding is already committed to the ongoing work to support the response to the pandemic, according to Dudley Council.

Meanwhile Plan B measures - including compulsory mask wearing and advice to work from home - were lifted last week.

Councillor Nicolas Barlow, Dudley's cabinet member for public health, said: “As we have throughout the pandemic, the council continues to work closely with our partners to support residents and businesses.

"We encourage our communities to be vigilant and play their part by following Covid-19 preventative measures, including accepting the Covid and flu vaccinations when offered.

“The Covid-19 vaccination programme is the biggest in health service history. We continue to focus on public health messaging, along with engagement with different communities in low uptake areas.

“We work with community groups, faith leaders and voluntary organisations to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, promote vaccination and gain intelligence around vaccine hesitancy.

“Based on our insights we have worked to remove barriers to improve vaccine uptake, including a proactive ‘feet on the street’ approach, working with businesses, taking mobile vaccine vans into the heart of communities and working with community and faith leaders to dispel vaccine misinformation and build trust.

“Throughout the pandemic we have worked to rapidly identify and respond to local outbreaks and continue to provide welfare support to those who need it.

“Funding from the Contain Outbreak Management fund is already committed to the ongoing work to support our response to the pandemic and is expected to be spent by the end of the financial year.”

The latest vaccination figures for Dudley show that 84 per cent (241,550) have had a first dose of the vaccine, 78 per cent have had a second dose 224,160 and 61 per cent (173,272) have had a booster jab. The figures are valid as of January 24.

Meanwhile councillors were told that the percentage of people testing positive in PCR tests had declined since mid-November but increased again since schools reopened, with a nine per cent positive rate in the last 90 days.