Bristol in a ‘fragile place’ with Covid, health chief warns

Bristol is in a ‘fragile place’ and now has the fifth highest Covid-19 rates in the country despite infection levels continuing to fall, warns the city’s director of public health.

Christina Gray has urged residents to stay home if they feel unwell, even if it isn’t coronavirus, and to carry on taking “small acts” that can make a big difference to others.

It comes after Boris Johnson announced the end of self-isolation laws and free universal testing in England on Monday (February 21) as part of the national Living With Covid strategy.

Ms Gray told Bristol health and wellbeing board on Thursday (February 24) that a local version of the plan was being drawn up but that people should remain cautious because rates were still “extremely high”.

She said: “These changes are taking place in phases. As of Monday, testing in education settings ceased with the exception of special needs settings.

“As of today, there is no longer a legal requirement to isolate, and isolation support payments are not available but there is still guidance to isolate if you test positive and indeed to stay at home if you are unwell.

“Free lateral flow and PCR tests will be available to members of the public until the end of March, after which free tests will only be available in specific settings and for immunocompromised individuals. We are awaiting more detail on this.

“In Bristol we are working to develop a local Living With Covid-19 framework.

“This will set out our plans to prevent, protect, treat and respond to Covid-19 over the coming year and this Living With Covid plan will replace our current Bristol outbreak management plan.

“As the national Living With Covid report states quite clearly, the future holds considerable uncertainty with regard to the evolution of the virus and we need to be mindful of this.

“At the same time we can welcome the move away from ful emergency measures which are harmful to physical and emotional health for other reasons.

“Infection levels in Bristol, although reducing, remain extremely high.

“Bristol is currently ranked fifth in the country for levels of infection.”

Latest figures show the city had 3,025 cases in the seven days up to February 19 with a rate of 649 per 100,000 people.

The city council’s public health director said: “Fortunately these high rates are not currently translating into severe illness or hospitalisation, as a result of vaccination, voluntary public behaviours and new treatments, and it’s this situation that has given the Government confidence to remove restrictions while rates remain high.

“This news will be welcome for some but will also be making others feel very anxious and I ask everyone to be mindful of others as we navigate this next phase of the pandemic.

“And as we move into this voluntary space there are small things we can do individually or collectively that will make a big difference to virus transmission.”

She said these included getting fully vaccinated, good hand hygiene and wearing face coverings in busy or enclosed areas, “a small act that can make a big difference to others”.

“Stay at home if you feel unwell, whether or not it’s Covid,” Ms Gray said.

“We are living with Covid, Covid has not gone away, so please proceed with caution as things start to open up.

“We remain in a fragile place and these small actions that everyone can take do make a real difference.”

Board chairwoman Cllr Helen Holland said: “The availability of tests is a serious concern, particularly for people with limited funds who have to buy their own tests and want to visit elderly parents.”

Cathy Caple, from University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Trust, told the City Hall meeting: “We received a letter with more guidance from NHS England yesterday on how the health service should proceed and it is the same until further notice, so continuing with distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing.

“Obviously we will comply with that. We are continuing our testing regime for staff in the same vein.”

Tim Keen, of North Bristol Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are continuing with our testing for staff and encouraging our staff to use lateral flow tests while they are still available, although there is some uncertainty as to what happens with NHS staff after March.”

Unions and charities have warned that the relaxation of self-isolation, ending of free testing and changes to statutory sick pay and employment support allowance will cause uncertainty, anxiety and hardship.