The backlog of requests for patching and resurfacing of roads in York seems to be growing.
Officials have refused to fill in potholes like these on The Gallops
Requests for potholes to be filled and uneven roads repaired are now being routinely turned down.
The risks for cyclists and pedestrians are rising.
Even when officials decide that some work is needed only rudimentary work is done to potholes. They usually require attention again within a few weeks.
Requests for resurfacing receive no satisfactory response
The very least that officials and responsible Councillors should do is explain their policies, what is possible within existing budget allocations and when residents can reasonably expect to see an improvements.
Some pretty bad mistakes seem to have been made when the allocation of basic maintenance budgets was agreed.
Councillors seem oblivious to the growing chorus of complaints.
This issue is an election loser if ever there was one
NB. The resurfacing programme for the new financial year should be published shortly
Good to see that two way cycle access through Micklegate Bar has been restored.
May owe something to todays gales which have blown over the guard rails!
The expectation is that carriageway resurfacing here and on Blossom Street will be concluded over the weekend with normal working restored for all traffic on Monday.
Proposal to establish new York Health and Care Alliance
City of York Council’s Executive will consider plans to further improve health and social care services across the city at a meeting on Thursday 18 March.
Building on the successes of York’s vaccination rollout, city-wide testing and support for people who are shielding, the proposals to establish a Health and Social Care Alliance for York have been led by a number of health and social care partners in the city, including the council, NHS commissioners and providers, and voluntary sector organisations.
The aim of the Alliance will be to strengthen health, care and public services in the city by building healthcare locally around residents, rather than around organisations. By doing so, the council and its partners can better tackle health inequalities which existed before COVID, but have been magnified by it, and improve the general health and wellbeing of the York population.
The proposals will also work to lock-in some of the positive work seen throughout the pandemic, which has been achieved by partners working in a more collaborative and effective manner due to the challenges of the pandemic. This work includes:
supporting people with COVID-19 and spotting signs of deterioration through the COVID Hub Single Point of Access
delivering city wide testing, tracing and outbreak management (for example with universities and colleges, or with care homes)
supporting people access primary care, therapy and specialist nursing whilst shielding
delivering an exemplary COVID vaccination effort with many partners contributing to a swift and very successful rollout of the vaccine so far.
The proposals have been developed in response to the recent publication of the Government’s ‘Integration and Innovation’ White Paper, which sets out a series of reforms to health and care which the Government intend to implement at the beginning of April 2022.
This paper, published in February, also sets out how Integrated Care Systems (ICS) are expected to become embedded in legislation by April 2022 and therefore have statutory responsibilities, as part of reforms to the Health and Social Care Act. This Integrated Care System covers an area which includes York, as well as North Yorkshire, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.
If approved, the proposals would see the York Health and Social Care Alliance run in shadow form during the 2021-22 financial year, in order to further develop governance and accountability structures. Once all partners have agreed to the yet-to-be-proposed terms of reference, the board will be formalised in 2022, when the new national legislation takes effect.
The Alliance membership will comprise different organisations involved in commissioning or delivering health and care in York:
Vale of York CCG
City of York Council
York Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust
Nimbuscare (Primary care services provider in York)
There have been no further hospital deaths today. The last fatality announced by the York Hospital Trust occurred on 7th March.
Test Results
Eight new positive test results announced today. That is the lowest single day announcement for 6 months.
The number of infections (7 day moving average) has increased by 7; up from 103 yesterday to 110 today
The rate /100k population has increased (as forecast) to 52.23 today. It is expected to remain stable at around that figure for the next 3 days at least.
Although it is disappointing that there has been no sustained reduction in case numbers this week, we have so far avoided the steep increase in infection levels seen when Lockdown 2 ended in December.
Neighbourhoods
Something of a surge today in case numbers in Strensall (+4). That area has tended to be quite volatile
There has been little change in infection rates at county, regional or national level today
Vaccinations
Vaccinations by neighbourhood
Tests
4207 PCR tests were carried out in York during the week ending 7th March 2021.
The proportion that were positive was 1.9%. That represents a small increase on the 1.8% recorded the previous day.
3259 “lateral flow” tests were also carried out on 11th March
Council commentary
The York Council has updated its commentary on the pandemic. It is reproduced below
The data is accurate as at 8.00 a.m. on Friday 12.03.21. Some narrative for the data covering the latest period is provided here below:
People with Covid Symptoms
• NHS Pathways/111 triages – as at 8.3.21 there had been 74 total covid triages in the CYC area in the last 7 days. The peak number of triages was 653 in the 7 day period to 20.9.20.
• As at 11.3.21, the Covid Symptom App estimates 85.5 per 100,000 in York with symptomatic covid (responses from a sample of 4,502 people). The peak rate was 1,283 on 7.1.21.
Diagnosed cases
• As at 11.3.21 York has had 12,029 cases since the start of the pandemic, a rate of 5,711 per 100,000 of population. The cumulative rate in York is below the national (6,598) and regional (6,624) averages.
• The PHE ‘Exceedance’ rating compares the no. of new cases over a 14 day period with the previous 6 weeks and provides a RAG rating to indicate if the previously observed trend in the no. of new cases is worsening. The latest rating for York (8.3.21) is Green.
• The provisional rate of new Covid cases per 100,000 of population for the period 3.3.21 to 9.3.21 in York is 52.7 (using data published on Gov.uk on 11.3.21).
• The latest official “validated” rate of new Covid cases per 100,000 of population for the period 28.2.21 to 6.3.21 was 48.9. The national and regional averages at this date were 60.3 and 100 respectively (using data published on Gov.uk on 11.3.21).
• York is currently ranked 63rd out of 149 Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLAs) in England with a rank of 1 indicating the lowest 7 day rate.
• For the 7 day period 27.2.21.to 5.3.21, 2 wards in York (Dringhouses & Woodthorpe and Hull Road) have seen a statistically significant fall in rates compared with the 7 day period 20.2.21 to 26.2.21. For the remaining wards there has been no statistically significant change in rates. No wards have seen a significant rise in rates.
• The rate of new Covid cases per 100,000 of population for the period 28.2.21 to 6.3.21 for people aged 60+ in York was 22.2. The national and regional averages were 35.2 and 52.9 respectively.
• As at 8.3.21, the latest 7 day positivity rate in York (Pillar 2 PCR tests only) was 1.82%. The national and regional averages are 2.7% and 4.7% respectively.
• As at 8.3.21 the latest 7 day positivity rate in York (Pillar 2 Lateral Flow Tests only) was 0.22%. The national and regional averages are 0.1% and 0.2% respectively.
• As at 9.3.21 the latest 7 day positivity rate in York (Pillar 1 tests only) was 1.2%. The national average is 1.8%.
• As at 11.3.21 York University reported 6 individuals within the University community who were currently self-isolating because they have had a positive COVID-19 test. The peak number was 331 on the 19.10.20.
• As at 1.3.21 York St. John reported 3 individuals within the University community who was currently self-isolating because they have had a positive COVID-19 test. The peak number was 82 on the 8.10.20.
Contact Tracing
• Since 28.5.20 a total of 11,166 confirmed CYC Covid cases have been uploaded into the NHS Test and Trace system and 10,064 of the cases have been completed (90.1%). 25,923 ‘contacts’ have been identified and 19,627 of these have been completed (75.7%). Source: PHE Report.
• Local Tracing of Cases: Between 22.10.20 and 5.3.21, 953 referrals had been actioned by the local contact tracing service. Of the referrals actioned, 611 (64.1%) were successful and 342 (35.9%) were unable to be reached via phone or home visit, but guidance leaflets were posted where possible.
Cases in Residential Care Settings
• As at 11.3.21 there were 2 care homes in the CYC area with confirmed Covid-19 infection (at least 1 case of either a staff member or resident).
• The latest ‘outbreak’ (2+ cases) in a residential care setting in York was reported by PHE on 25.2.21 (1 home).
Cases amongst School Aged Children
• In the 7 days up to 8.3.21 there were 34 children of primary and secondary school age who tested positive. Widespread testing of secondary school aged children took place prior to the return to school on March 8th. The majority of children who tested positive were of secondary school age and were picked up as asymptomatic cases through this testing programme.
COVID Bed Occupancy in York Hospital
• As at 10.3.21 there were 26 confirmed Covid-19 patients in General and Acute beds. The peak number was 157 on 19.1.21.
• As at 10.3.21 there were 7 confirmed Covid-19 patients and 0 suspected Covid-19 patient in the Intensive Treatment Unit. The peak number for people in ITU was 19 on 10.5.20.
• As at 10.3.21 there had been 0 patients admitted with suspected Covid-19 and 0 with confirmed Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours.
• As at 10.3.21 there had been 3 confirmed patients discharged with COVID-19 in last 24 hours.
Covid Patients (CYC Residents) discharged from York Hospital
• Between 1.3.21 and 7.3.21, 16 CYC residents were discharged from York hospital after needing NHS care for symptoms linked to covid-19 infection.
R Number
• The ‘R’ value (the number of people that one infected person will pass on a virus to, on average) for the North East and Yorkshire area on 5.3.21 was estimated to be in the range 0.7 to 1.0. The previous estimate was (0.7 to 0.9) on 26.2.21.
Total Vaccinations
• As at 10.3.21 70,334 CYC residents had received the first dose and 3,402 had received both doses. 33.4% of the total estimated population of York (210,618*) had therefore received the first dose.
• As at 10.3.21 19.58M In people in England had received the first dose and 0.93M had received both doses. 34.8% of the total estimated population of England (56,286,961*) had therefore received the first dose.
*using Mid-Year 2019 population estimates
Deaths
The two sources about deaths from Covid-19 at LA level are ONS data and local registrar data. They are derived from the same source (civil registration data). ONS data is more comprehensive as it includes deaths of York residents which have occurred and been registered outside York. Local registrar data is useful as it enables a breakdown by age and gender. The most recently available data is summarised below:
• ONS weekly data: In the most recent period (Week 8: 19.2.21 to 26.2.21) 6 Covid-19 deaths were recorded as having occurred for CYC residents (3 in hospital, 2 in a care home and 1 in a hospice). In weeks 5, 6 and 7 there had been 18, 11 and 19 deaths respectively.
• ONS Cumulative data: Since the start of the pandemic, for deaths occurring up to 26th February 2021 and registered up to 6th March 2021, 374 Covid-19 deaths were recorded as having occurred for CYC residents (218 in hospital, 128 in care homes, 20 at home and 8 in a hospice). The number of deaths per 100,000 of population in York is 177.6 which is lower than the national average of 220.0
• Local Registrar data (Cumulative): Since the start of the pandemic (using data for deaths occurring up to 3.3.21), a cumulative total of 360 deaths of CYC residents where COVID-19 was mentioned (confirmed or suspected) on the death certificate, have been registered. The average age of the people who died was 82.3, with an age range of 44-104. The age profile of those dying in York is older than the national average (80.3% of those who died in York were aged 75+ compared with 73.5% nationally). 171 of the 360 were male (47.5%), less than the national average (54.3%).
Police enforcement action
North Yorkshire Police have issued their latest COVID-19 enforcement figures. In York the breeches mainly related to indoor gatherings and unauthorised visitors to the City.
