A public health team set up to co-ordinate the county's response to Covid-19 is set to be scrapped next month - in a major shift in the way the region deals with the pandemic.
The outbreak management centre at Norfolk County Council was established at the beginning of the pandemic to work with care homes, schools and other businesses on their Covid responses - as a main point of contact.
However, the centre is due to close down on July 15 despite recorded infection numbers doubling since the start of the month, with its seconded workers either returning to other public health roles or seeing their fixed-term contracts come to an end.
The move to shut the centre was made by Norfolk's health protection and engagement board, which is responsible for the overall response to the pandemic.
Dr Louise Smith, Norfolk's director of public health, said: "Our outbreak management centre was a key part of our local response to the Covid 19 pandemic: the officers working in it did vital work identifying and containing outbreaks of the virus and supporting those effected. It’s no exaggeration to say case rates and even deaths in Norfolk could have been much higher without their tireless work, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved.
“Now, however, we’re into a new stage of the Covid 19 response: the government have outlined this in their report Living with Covid, and with high vaccination rates among the general population and the UKHSA taking on a role in monitoring outbreaks, the way we deal with the virus is changing, allowing the officers involved to focus on other areas of the response and of public health."
She added that "Covid is still with us" and emphasised the steps that can still be taken to limit the spread, including good hand hygiene, ventilation and social distancing.
The change symbolises a significant shift in the way Covid-19 is viewed and responded to, as it becomes a more mundane part of everyday life.
While it will not mean the county's public health teams will no longer manage Covid, it will mean it will be dealt with in the same way as any other infection such as flu or norovirus.
Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious diseases from the University of East Anglia, said the decision did not come as a surprise.
He said: "I've said it for a long time now, but Covid is now the type of infection that most of us will catch every year or two, many even more.
"Specific outbreak management does not normally happen for infections that are very common in society so this is to be expected and I do not think it is anything to worry about."
Prof Hunter added: "I think it is indicative that the government has decided it is going to pedal back on efforts to control Covid which I think is now the right thing to do."
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