COVID-19 in Lewisham - 4 December update
Shop local, stay safe
After several weeks of national restrictions, it's good to see local people are returning to Lewisham’s high streets for festive shopping as London is now in Tier 2 of local restriction tiers. It’s welcome news for shops, many businesses, restaurants, bars and pubs that had to close their doors. Please make sure that you are familiar with the rules for Tier 2 as we move into this next stage of response to the pandemic.
The COVID-19 infection rate remains relatively steady in Lewisham, but it varies quite significantly across London and into Kent. The more we move around, the greater the risk of spreading the virus, so avoid travelling to Tier 3 areas and let’s make the most of the shops and businesses on our doorstep to support Lewisham’s economy and help stop the virus spreading.
If you’re out and about this weekend, please remember those everyday good habits that are so important to keep the infection rate low – wash your hands regularly, keep a safe 2m distance from those outside your household or support bubble and wear a face covering. We’ve been asking local people why they believe it’s so important to wear a face covering – hear what they said.
Get a test
One of the most important things you can do to stop the spread of the virus is to get a test if you have symptoms.
Getting a test has never been so quick and easy in Lewisham. Alongside testing sites in Catford and Deptford, a new Local Testing Unit is now open seven days a week at Molesworth Car Park (Molesworth St, London SE13 7DS) from 8am to 8pm every day. This site can be accessed by booking a test via nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119 for anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19.
Our local tracing approach is working
Since our Lewisham-based team started supporting NHS Test and Trace, over 90% of those people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the borough have been contacted and asked to self-isolate. Out of the London councils we’re now in the top five for successfully contacting people who test positive, a huge leap that really proves a local approach is more effective.
I’m really proud of how quickly we’ve set up an efficient team, finding the best skills across the Council and coordinating over 40 council officers stepping in to support from other services. They’ve been calling those who have tested positive to explain why it’s so important to self-isolate, answer any questions and encourage everyone to support the effort to identify close contacts.
This is such an important step in containing the virus and helping to slow the spread in our community so I’m really thankful to everyone – dedicated colleagues who have stepped in to support and all the residents who are doing the right thing and self-isolating.
Rapid COVID-19 testing
Any day now, we’re expecting to receive the first batch of lateral flow tests after Lewisham was selected to help pilot the roll out of these quick result COVID-19 tests. We are taking a targeted approach in the initial roll out of these rapid tests among groups and in settings where we know the virus spreads more easily.
Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey on rapid testing. We’ll share more detail on the results next week, but the headlines are hugely reassuring. Of the 2,793 people who responded, an overwhelming majority, 94%, said that they would you take a test even if they didn’t have symptoms. Most people said that they would be motivated to protect those around them – family, neighbours, friends and work colleagues – and stop the virus spreading with a large number of people keen to help the Council better understand local infection rates to better respond to outbreaks. We’re carefully considering how we might use our allocation of these rapid tests and all of the responses shared really help us to understand some of the challenges in what could be a huge challenge for the Council and its partners.