Sharing these newsletters
To share this newsletter on social media sites such as Facebook, please visit our COVID-19 Community Champions website www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/covid-champions where you will find links to this update and previous ones at the bottom of the page. Just copy and paste the link.
The final COVID-19 Champion newsletter will be sent on 25 June.
Read the MK COVID-19 Champions code of conduct here.
COVID-19 snapshot
Click here to see and print the full COVID-19 snapshot as of 9 June 2021 (data reported up to 6 June 2021).
Thank you everyone
The COVID Champion scheme will end on 25 June and all COVID-19 updates will be moved to be part of the Milton Keynes Council e-alerts (sign up to those here). The champion email address COVIDChampions@Milton-Keynes.gov.uk will remain in place and we will continue to answer any questions you may have about the vaccination.
New MK Response Volunteer Scheme
We were delighted to see how much support there has been for the COVID Champion scheme, and hope that you may be interested in a new volunteer scheme called MK Response Volunteers. We are looking for residents who are willing to help in a range of situations. This could be to help respond to an emergency event like flooding or evacuations, or to support large sporting events in Milton Keynes. It would also involve alerting the Emergency Planning Team to issues in your local area.
If you would like to find out more about this new scheme please complete this short questionnaire: MK Response Volunteer Questionnaire
If we do not hear from you then your contact details will be destroyed after the final newsletter on 25th June. This is in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
In the meantime, we would like to take the opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for your involvement as a COVID Champion. Thanks to you the newsletter reached over half the Milton Keynes population, providing guidance, support and hopefully some reassurance in such a difficult period.
Vaccine update
England
Doses given Fully vaccinated % of population fully vaccinated
57.8m 24m 42.8%
Three-quarters of over 70s have COVID-19 antibodies
New findings from Public Health England have shown that an estimated 75.8% of 70 to 84 year olds had antibodies against COVID-19 by early March.
However, only 5.6% were from natural infection, which shows that older adults are able to mount a very robust immune response to the COVID-19 vaccine. Read the full story here.
Who can get a COVID-19 vaccine now?
COVID-19 vaccines are being offered to:
- people aged 25 and over
- people who will turn 25 before 1 July 2021
- people at high risk from COVID-19 (clinically extremely vulnerable)
- people with a condition that puts them at higher risk (clinically vulnerable)
- people with a learning disability
- people who live or work in care homes
- health and social care workers
- people who are a main carer for someone at high risk from COVID-19
You'll be contacted by the NHS when you're eligible.
You do not need to wait to be contacted if you're in a group listed above. You may be able to book your COVID-19 vaccination appointments online now.
Book your COVID-19 vaccination appointments online.
MK Vaccination Centres
MK Pharmacy Vaccination sites
Vaccines and pregnancy
Pregnant women, (or women who think they may be pregnant), and breastfeeding mothers are encouraged to have the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
A webinar regarding the COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy was held on 4 June. The session was hosting by representatives from hospitals in Bedford, Luton and Dunstable and Milton Keynes, including Specialist Feeding and Community Midwives. The team provided a presentation and answered a number of questions put forward by pregnant mums.
Join the BLMK CCG Pregnancy and vaccination webinar.
Testing update
The Newport Pagnell Mobile Testing Unit has moved to the Middleton Swimming Pool overflow car park on Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell and is open on Wednesdays and Fridays. You can book via gov.uk or drive or walk in.
A mobile unit continues to visit the RAFA Club, Tattenhoe Lane, West Bletchley on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are PCR tests for people with symptoms or who have had a positive rapid test.
Walk-in PCR sites are still operating in Bletchley behind the library on Westfield Road and Agora carpark, Church St, Wolverton.
Rapid tests are still available to collect from the CMK library and can be taken on site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
What is the difference between PCR and Lateral Flow tests?
Lateral Flow tests are for anyone without symptoms. They give a result in 30 mins. They are available free either by collection from CMK Library or you can order online here Order Lateral Flow test
if:
- you do not have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms
- you’re 11 or older
- you have not been told to self-isolate
- you cannot get tests from your work, school, college or university (ask them for rapid lateral flow tests)
PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are sent away to a lab to be analysed. They are more accurate than the Lateral Flow Tests. They are for people who have COVID-19 symptoms, or who have no symptoms but have had a positive lateral flow test. Importantly they are analysed for variants.
Lifting Lockdown
The decision whether to move into the final stage of the roadmap to lifting lockdown on 21st June will be made soon.
The decision is subject to four key factors:
1. The number of people in hospital
There are just under 1,000 people with coronavirus in hospitals in the UK, up about 5% from a low point a week ago. The NHS says the people who are going in aren't as seriously ill as they were in early waves. They are younger, or don't require intensive care as much - and they're coming out sooner.
2. The speed of rising infections
The Delta variant first identified in India - is reportedly 40% more transmissible than the version that sparked the winter wave, which was the Alpha variant first seen in Kent.
Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested that UK infections had risen by 60% in a single week.
3. The chance of becoming seriously ill if infected
People who have been double vaccinated make up 40% of the population but fewer than 5% of people who have been admitted to hospital with the Delta variant.
4. The number of people who have been fully vaccinated
More than 50% of adults in the UK have been given the best protection possible; two doses of the vaccine. However, we are some way off herd immunity, even if you add in some immunity from having had coronavirus in the past. Every person vaccinated helps to slow the spread.
What might change on 21 June?
The next step in the roadmap would be to remove all legal limits on social contact. So there would no longer be restrictions on how many people we can meet, either indoors or outdoors. Some social distancing rules may remain in place, and the wearing of masks may still be mandatory in some public places.
Some pilots have taken place during the Spring and Summer where testing was used to reduce the risk of infection. These will inform the decision to open nightclubs, music venue and large sporting events.
For more details contact: Danielle Goonetilleke: danielle@communityactionmk.org.
Reporting concerns
One of the ways you can help is by reporting serious concerns about workplaces and other facilities where social distancing and other measures aren’t being followed. Intelligence like this can help us to track and control virus transmission.
Please tell us when the breach of restrictions took place, and a full address of the site if known. Your details will not be shared with the person or place you are telling us about.
You can write to us at COVIDconcern@milton-keynes.gov.uk.
We may not reply to all messages but we will read them all, and they’ll be used to gather intelligence so we can take action where needed.
Useful links
See the latest Government guidance here gov.uk/coronavirus.
Find COVID-19 Information from the NHS: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
To print and share this, please click "view it as a web page" at the top of this bulletin. This will take you to a web page with the option to print this off at the top.
To share this newsletter on social media sites such as Facebook, please visit our COVID-19 Community Champions website www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/covid-champions where you will find links to this update and previous ones at the bottom of the page. Just copy and paste the link.
Your Feedback
Have you found this email useful?
Let us know how we can improve: COVIDChampions@Milton-Keynes.gov.uk
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