COMMITTEES that can monitor the spread of the coronavirus should be formed at a local level in Renfrewshire as part of the area’s bid to tackle the outbreak, a councillor has said.
Councillor Andy Doig has insisted community councils across the area should act as resilience committees who can assess the spread locally and identify those vulnerable people most at risk.
Resilience committees - like the Scottish Government Resilience Room - spring into action when a national emergency or crisis requires a response and decide the best course of action.
It is understood the council’s party group leaders will be holding a special meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss the outbreak of Covid-19.
Councillor Doig, who represents Johnstone North, Kilbarchan, Howwood and Lochwinnoch, said he will raise the idea of local resilience committees at this meeting.
The Independent man said: “The best campaigns are won from the community up, with community support, so I have suggested to the chief executive our local community councils, which are bedrock of community engagement, could form local resilience committees.
“Some UK health experts have recommended this and I believe it would have great merit in keeping our communities safe and well as much as we can.
“I think it is crucial to strike the correct tone here between the recklessness of over-reaction and an over-comforting complacency.
“Yes, the coronavirus is estimated to be similar to the Spanish Flu of 1919 which killed millions, however, public health standards are light years ahead of a century ago, and most healthy adults who take precautions should not be at threat.
“The benefit of having local resilience committees is that having key local knowledge.
“They will know where the young, elderly, and those with underlying health problems, who are all most at risk, are in their own particular villages and towns.
“This could be crucial in ensuring they are monitored that bit closer so if they take ill, swift action can be taken.”
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