At this morning's full remote meeting of Salford City Council the City Mayor, Paul Dennett, announced that rates of coronavirus cases in Salford were running at 87 per 100,000 as of 8th September, and that cases were occurring in all settings and amongst all age groups, with increasing numbers in older working age groups and care homes.
Dennett confirmed that twelve care homes had outbreaks and that there were five "tragic" deaths in care homes last week, which he added was "deeply disturbing".
Councillor Laura Edwards, in a question to Councillor Gina Reynolds, Lead Member for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing, slammed the six care home providers in the city that are not implementing the 'Salford Offer' which guarantees full sick pay for those workers who have to self-isolate and shield.
Councillor Edwards added that care workers were being "financially punished for caring" and that non-complying care providers were being "shameless" in putting communities at risk.
Meanwhile, Springwood Primary became the latest school to confirm a case of COVID-19 with letters sent to parents on Monday asking children who came into contact with the affected person to self-isolate for 14 days, and more children sent home today.
At the meeting, Councillor Jillian Collinson asked Deputy Mayor John Merry how many year groups have been sent home, whether free school meals were being given to children being sent home and whether schools were coping "with a seamless flow of work materials for young people who have been sent home"...
In response, Councillor Merry didn't give a response, stating that "I don't want to give it out over open communications" but would be happy to send it to her privately.
Earlier, the Salford City Mayor had stated that the city was in a "precarious situation". It was "scandalous", he added, that data was not being shared with the city's public health teams in real time; that residents are unable to book a virus test through the national portal; that residents were being asked to travel as far as Inverness to get a test; that residents were turning up at testing sites only to be told testing kits had run out; that lab capacity was a "challenge"; that people were finding it hard to self-isolate when not receiving full wages for doing so; and that huge sums of public money had been passported into the hands of private contractors...
Dennett added that during the last two weeks officers and volunteers have been working with the Department of Health and Social Care on the saliva based community test which aims to provide results within 48 hours. There were plans to offer testing in places like supermarkets and community centres..."Our role is to find out what works for local people, prior to any potential roll out of this across the country" he said.
Main photo shows remote Salford Council meeting with a new sign interpreter
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