After almost two years of sacrifice, hardship and loss, and having borne witness to the enormous strength and resilience of our communities, we find ourselves once again at a pivotal moment in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sudden rise and rapid spread of the new Omicron variant across the world is naturally causing concern and anxiety, and it is only normal for us all to experience feelings of fear or helplessness.
It is against this backdrop that we can confirm the first case of Omicron in Hywel Dda today (Friday 10 December 2021). Together with Public Health Wales colleagues we are closely monitoring the situation and this will continue in the coming weeks.
But we know far more about how we can protect ourselves and our wider communities in the face of COVID-19 than we have done in the past. We need to use this information to our advantage now – both in the NHS, as individuals and in our communities.
Our NHS staff continue to work selflessly hour after hour, day after day in the face of unparalleled pressure and challenge. They continue to prioritise the care and treatment of urgent and emergency cases. Our vaccination programmes for both COVID-19 and flu continue at an unprecedented scale and remain a key part of our defence against these viruses. We continue to provide long term care in our communities and maintain essential primary care services that people receive close to home.
We will continue to do everything in our power to provide care and services as we react to the changing pressures of the pandemic, however, we need people to understand that this is very different to what they may have experienced before. We are working as hard as we can to mitigate against the most serious impacts of this as we respond to the serious challenge that COVID-19 continues to present.
While we are all doing everything we can to keep safe, we are appealing once more to people to do the right thing.
What you can do to help:
If it’s positive, don’t go out. Arrange for a PCR test and self-isolate.
We all want this pandemic to end, however, COVID-19 remains very much with us and it is more important than ever for us all now to act in a responsible way which protects our most vulnerable in society and our NHS.
We are deeply proud of the communities we serve and our staff and the Board stand with you all in these extraordinarily difficult times. Thank you.