WARRINGTON has joined other councils across Cheshire to establish a strong partnership to combat the continuing threat from Covid-19.
The Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership and Warrington-based Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane are also involved in the initiative.
A new outbreak response co-ordination group will ensure an effective response across the county, working with the police, NHS and business leaders.
The group is made up of the leaders of Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Halton Council, Warrington Borough Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the chairman of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise partnership.
It will ensure the whole county takes a unified approach to managing outbreaks by:
• Providing collective political leadership in response to outbreaks within Cheshire;
• Ensuring Cheshire police can respond to outbreaks consistently, in partnership with local authorities;
• Sharing information on local outbreaks and lockdowns, and reviewing the spread of Covid-19 across Cheshire;
• Learning from partners’ experiences and sharing how to best respond to outbreaks;
• Protecting the local economy during an outbreak, in partnership with the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership; and
• Supporting co-operation with Merseyside, North Wales, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
Each council has published an outbreak management plan for their area which sets out how they will prevent and manage local outbreaks of Covid-19, as they occur in their communities.
Close collaboration across the county between local councils, businesses and Cheshire police will also prevent and manage local lockdowns, protecting lives and livelihoods.
Cllr Louise Gittins, chairman of the Cheshire Covid-19 Outbreak Response Co-ordination Group, said: “This virus does not recognise local authority boundaries. We have a great experience of collaboration between councils and other partners, which is now more important than ever before.
“We are meeting regularly to share information and learning. We will help each other tackle outbreaks as they occur, supporting all the organisations and communities, working together to defeat this terrible virus. Our collective aspiration is to make Cheshire Covid free.”
One of the key challenges of the group has been to receive the necessary data and information from national agencies, enabling local public health teams to quickly combat outbreaks as they occur.
The leaders called on national government to ensure better and more timely information to local public health teams, more local control over testing, clarity over local powers, and more funding for local organisations to support their response.
They also requested everyone play their part in keeping themselves and their communities safe. The message is: “ Protect yourself and your family and friends by getting a Coronavirus test if you have symptoms of a persistent cough, fever or loss of taste and smell by calling 119 or visiting nhs.uk/coronavirus. Protect your community by then self-isolating for 14 days if you have symptoms or if alerted to do so by a contact tracer”.
