Sharon Stolz, City of York's Director of Public Health issues Statutory Annual Report

Sharon Stoltz, City of York’s Director of Public Health has published her statutory Annual Report which focuses on the COVID19 pandemic and its effects on York from the date the UK first case was identified in York. 

Sharon Stoltz, City of York’s Director of Public Health has published her statutory Annual Report which focuses on the COVID19 pandemic and its effects on York from the date the UK first case was identified in York. 

Ms Stoltz said “I remember vividly the phone call our team received from Public Health England on the 30 January 2020 informing us that the first UK COVID-19 cases had been identified in York."

“From that moment on everyone involved offered blood, toil, tears and sweat, going above and beyond in their service to our city in one of its darkest moments. In York we had to deal with it first, acting as a Wayfinder for the rest of the UK in terms of the public health, partnership and communications response."

The report follows a structure through the phases of any infectious disease or outbreak:

• the spread, or the story of a pandemic's beginning
• the impact, or the story of what effect a disease has on a population
• the voices, or the story of the lived experience of a pandemic
• the control, or the story of how an outbreak starts to end

Councillor Carol Runcimen, Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public health said, “This fascinating report outlines the incredible response of the Director of Public Health and her team, but also of those across public services and a wide range of key worker roles, as well as the huge sacrifices and contributions made by all in our communities.”

“To see all of that - as we do in this report - against the historic framework of similar challenges and previous responses, is both humbling and inspiring and points the way to the future. My grateful thanks go to Sharon, her team and many others for the immense amount of work done to get us to this point”
 
The Director of Public Health's report, 'York; the Pandemic Years' is available at https://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/file/1158/director-of-public-health-s-annual-report-2020-to-2022