The meeting was held via Zoom, and chaired by Councillor James Holmes. 20 residents and nine councillors attended on Zoom with 51 additional views on YouTube. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained how the meeting would work.

Public Health team

Dagmar Zeuner, Director of Public Health provided a presentation, which is attached to this report. Dagmar said that the key message is that the number of COVID cases in Merton is coming down. For the last week there were 160 cases per 100,000 population. There was a bulge in the 16-29 age group with cases at 334 per 100,000. We are most concerned about the over 60s but the number of cases in this age group was also coming down.

The number of cases in the East of the borough is slightly higher than in the West but the difference is not significant. A spike of cases in the West in September has been tracked down to a recording issue, with students away at university testing positive but being linked to the home residence instead of their university. This has been changed by Public Health England. We are still tracking the number of cases by ethnicity and we are not seeing the same disproportionate impact on BAME communities that we saw in the first wave in the spring.

We have not seen a return to the death rates of the spring and ICU admissions for the most severe cases are also levelling off. The NHS still has sufficient capacity to cope so it is important that patients still attend appointments and elective procedures for other health issues.

Local contact tracing is up and running to supplement the national programme. New lateral flow tests are quick and do not involve the use of a laboratory. This makes them ideal for confined settings like health care providers and universities. In future they could be also be used in schools, care homes and local areas to manage outbreaks.

The vaccination programme will be led by the NHS with support from local authorities. The government has already identified priority groups based on risk levels. We are still waiting the final sign-off on the three vaccines, which is expected this month.

If agreed in Parliament tonight, London will be going into Tier 2 from tomorrow with restrictions on meeting with other households. The Hands, Face, Space message remains relevant is still key to stopping the spread.

COVID Community Champions are volunteers who are helping to communicate key messages in their communities. Dagmar thanked those who are giving up their time. To find out more you can email public.health@merton.gov.uk. There will be special ‘Celebrating Safely’ workshops on 14 December to offer practical tips for reducing the risk of COVID during the holiday season.

Dagmar was asked about the plans for distributing the vaccines. The Pfzer vaccine will need to be kept at storage hubs, St Georges and Croydon hospitals in South West London, due to the storage issues involved. Initially health workers will need to travel to those sites. As the regulator further reviews transportability of the Pfizer vaccine and other vaccines become available community vaccination sites will also be used, linked to Merton’s primary care networks. Preliminary plans include the Nelson and Wilson sites.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Helen Clark Bell

Helen Clark Bell from Love Wimbledon, a not for profit organisation funded by local businesses to improve the town centre, gave an update on plans for Christmas.

Love Wimbledon has recently published their annual report.

Christmas is definitely not cancelled in Wimbledon but will have to be a bit different. A Christmas tree and decorative lights have been put up, along with a reindeer trail sponsored by Centre Court. We will also be introducing a new Augmented Reality to work on mobile phones.

There are a number of new businesses in Wimbledon including Christmas pop-ups. There is a new food market from this weekend and the Zero Waste store has moved in from Merton Abbey Mills.

There are improvement works taking place outside New Wimbledon Theatre including new seats, trees and a larger space for theatre goers once performances return. Helen also showed plans for a place-making project for Hartfield Walk, funded by Community Infrastructure Levy that will commence in early 2021.

The Merton Giving Christmas Appeal has been launched asking for donations of ‘shoe box hampers’.  Centre Court Shopping have been announced today as a donation station for the shoe box appeal

Helen was asked about media reports today about the death of High street. Helen said she felt that the High street should be at the heart of the community, a space to go, mix, enjoy the area as well as use the local businesses. Love Wimbledon’s role is to support and promote the High Street so the death of the high street is not on the agenda

Catherine Kiernan and Mark Williams, Wimbledon Guild

Unfortunately due to staff sickness colleagues from Wimbledon Guild were unable to attend the meeting. They will arrange to attend a future meeting.

Leonie Cooper, Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth

Unfortunately Leonie Cooper, Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth, had been delayed and was unable to join the meeting before the meeting closed.

7.15pm 25 March 2021

Councillor Holmes thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 8pm.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 25 March 2021 at 7.15pm