Deaths

The latest ONS figures, covering the number of deaths of York residents attributable to COVID-19, have been published.

During the week ending 26th March NO fatalities were recorded.

This is the first week since 2nd October 2020 when there has been a zero death toll.

Since the start of the pandemic there have been 125 deaths in care homes in the City, 219 in hospitals, 21 at home and 8 in a hospice.

In total the pandemic has seen 373 fatalities among York residents.

One additional death was announced by the York Hospital Trust today. The fatality occurred on Tuesday (6th April)

Test Results

Six more positive test results gave been announced today. That brings the cumulative total up to 12,225

Case numbers in the City have fallen from 39 to 33.

As anticipated the infection rate /100k population figure has fallen back to 15.67 today. Further reductions are likely over the next two or three days

We seem to have established a virtuous circle now now with fewer opportunities for transmission of the virus – a result of good social distancing and the vaccination programme.

As a result, the decline in case numbers is paralleling the rate of reduction seen in May and June last year (towards the end of “Wave 1” of the pandemic).

See comparator graph below.

Neighbourhoods

Only two neighbourhoods now have a case rate over 50. In addition, there is one neighbourhood with a rate between 10 and 50.

The 21 other areas all now have fewer than 3 cases. Several now have zero cases.

Vaccinations

People in the 40 -49 age group should start to get invitations to be vaccinated from next week

Background slides published by York Council

Tests

3799 PCR tests were conducted during the week ending 3rd April 2021.

Of these, 0.7% proved to be positive. This is the same proportion as was recorded on the previous day.

2828 “lateral flow” tests were also undertaken on 7th April 2021

Hospitals

More good news as the number of COVID-19 patients, being cared for by the York Hospital Trust, has fallen below 20. The number in intensive care has halved to just one.

Police praise for Bank Holiday behaviour in North Yorkshire

Covid response: Please keep up “amazing effort” as we move to Step 2 of the Road Map Out of Lockdown on 12 April

Superintendent Mike Walker is leading North Yorkshire Police’s response to the Coronavirus and he also chairs the multi-agency North Yorkshire Local Resilience Partnership. These are his comments about the past week’s Covid-19 related issues including the Easter weekend…

Whilst the long bank holiday weekend was busy throughout the area, there was very little in way of police incidents or issues linked to Covid-19.

We only had to issue 11 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) during this period. All were for indoor gathering breaches, of which 10 occurred in Scarborough.

In total since the easing of the lockdown on 29 March, 14 FPNs have been issued. No incidents of note have been flagged-up during the past week.

It is pleasing that the rightfully careful and cautious Step 1 of the Government’s Road Map Out of Lockdown has gone well in our area.

This is testament to the outstanding partnership working we have in North Yorkshire and the City of York, plus the invaluable support from our communities who have experienced the collective effort to keep everyone safe during the pandemic.

As we move to Step 2 of the road map on Monday 12 April, it is now more important than ever to keep following the health protection measures while the vaccination programme is rolled out.

There is still no mixing of households allowed indoors until at least 17 May under Step 3, and the ‘rule of 6’ or two households remains in place regarding outdoor gatherings, including in private gardens.

Our policing teams will be promoting adherence to these rules while on targeted and highly visible patrols.

We will continue to use our ‘4 Es’ approach to engage with the public, explain the regulations, encourage compliance, and enforce only as a last resort when a blatant breach has occurred.

Officers and PCSOs will also be on hand to support our local authority, trading standards and licensing partners during checks on businesses such as pubs and restaurants, who be able to provide outdoor hospitality from 12 April.

This is clearly very welcome progress from the extremely worrying situation we faced just a few short months ago.

Our message to everyone is to keep up this amazing effort. Please keep doing all you can to reduce the risk of catching Covid-19 or unwittingly spreading the virus to others.