TWO more deaths at the York Hospital Trust were announced today. Both occurred on Tuesday. Brings the second wave fatality total at York and Scarborough hospitals to 49
FIFTY FOUR (54) additional positive test results were announced today. Brings total to 5345
Trend is still very slowly downward
For the first time we have seen, during the 7 days ending on 14th November, a drop in case numbers at City, County, Regional and National level.
Only the Heslington neighbourhood in York is now above the County, Regional and National averages (cases per 100k population).
Some significant points from the graphs below
Wigginton has had an above average case rate for over two weeks now
There has been a significant reduction in case numbers in the City centre (since lockdown although this may be a coincidence)
There has been a spike in case numbers in the Poppleton/Rufforth/Askhams neighbourhood. For a time this was the area with the lowest incidence of cases in the City
4049 (P2) coronavirus tests were carried out in York during the week ending 11th November. 11% of tests were positive. This didn’t vary significantly from the previous week
Basically, as far as the general, population is concerned, it will be “oldest first” to get the vaccine starting with care home residents, then the over 80’s
Hope is that first supplies will be available before Christmas. Facilities like the Moor Lane flu centre could be utilised
University and mass testing plans
We understand that mass testing facilities will be available at the local Universities from 30th November. The management there intend to offer tests to every student who intends to travel home from 3rd December. The “lateral flow” system will be used which provides almost immediate results (30 mins). The Universities will stagger leaving days and times in the expectation that many students will be picked up by family or friends.
The Universities are still talking about welcoming back students to the City in January.
NHS will be tested twice a week using the same system.
Targeted testing may be directed to check family members wishing to visit care home residents. Other priorities would include the social care workforce, schools, workplaces with an outbreak and later to allow events to take place.
Separately, York has “expressed an interest” to government in undertaking mass testing. This may be managed by focusing at one location but may be supplemented by local centres or even mobile facilities. The testing could continue for 6 months depending on when a vaccine was rolled out.
There is a suggestion that having a positive test (passport) may become a condition for having greater freedoms.
Deaths and test results
No further hospital deaths announced today.
“Only” 32 (THIRTY TWO) new positive test results announced today. This is the lowest for over 2 months and may be the first evidence that the “lockdown” is having a positive effect. The cumulative number of cases is now 5291.
Slow reduction in case numbers in the City continues
There was also a small reduction in cases reported at county and regional level.
There are still 5 neighbourhoods above the national case rate average. They are Heslington, Fulford Road, Wigginton, Huntington and (following a recent spike) Poppleton
Six neighbourhoods are now showing single digit case numbers.
Outbreak Management Board meeting
The agenda and some background papers for todays meeting have now been published. The meeting can be viewed “on line”
TWO additional deaths have been announced by the York Hospital Trust today. They both occurred on Sunday. The cumulative second wave fatality total has now reached 47 at the York and Scarborough hospitals.
FIFTY TWO (52) additional positive test results announced today.
Case numbers are now slowly reducing.
There have been no major adverse changes in any neighbourhood although four remain above national average case rate levels.
Other statistics are not yet available
More on the revised figures announced yesterday
It now seems clear that the major retrospective increase in the number of cases in the City was linked to positive test results at York University.
The case distribution map (below) is now showing 372 cases there during the week ending 14th October. That is pretty much off the scale by way of comparison with other neighbourhoods.
It appears that many students had not registered in York with a GP and that their test result had initially been allocated to their home towns.
Government case distribution map mid October
The way that cases are allocated geographically has made little difference to figures recorded during the last few days.
Outbreak management meeting tomorrow
The Councils Coronavirus outbreak management board is meeting tomorrow. No papers for the meeting have been published yet but is likely to be a significant one against a background of case numbers beginning to creep up again in some York neighbourhoods.
Residents will expect to see a clear path forward covering the remainder of the lockdown period, the return to the tiered approach on 3rd December and plans for the Christmas period.
The York University is likely to come under scrutiny with pressures to temporarily close the campus mounting. The pressure is event greater now that new figures have revealed the sheer size of the epidemic at Heslington which occurred in October.
Residents will hope to learn more about the most vulnerable locations for COVID contact. This information should be available now from the local authorities “test and trace” system.
Finally, many will hope to see more information from the managers of local hospitals. Performance information should be provided with a separate analysis for the York and Scarborough sites.
THREE (3) additional York Hospital Trust deaths announced today. One occurred on Saturday and two yesterday. The cumulative second wave fatality total for the York and Scarborough hospitals is now 45.
The Citywide figures for York shows an increase in the number of cases in the City. This is almost entirely down to the upward trend in Heslington.
Overall the number of cases in the City remains below the county, regional and national levels
However in five neighbourhoods levels are above the national average. They are Heslington, Fulford Road, Wigginton, Huntington and Poppleton. The latter two have risen quite quickly in recent days.
On the other hand, case numbers in the Westfield area have fallen during recent days
The government web site is claiming an additional 702 cases today. That is more than was recorded during the whole of the first wave peak.
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
It appears that the government has changed the way in which it records cases. It has retrospectively changed the figures back to the beginning of September (!). The daily new cases figure for today is therefore misleading.
From 16 November 2020, PHE has updated the way it records the location of people who test positive or negative for COVID-19. It now prioritises addresses given at the point of testing over the details registered on a patient’s NHS Summary Care Record. This better reflects the distribution of cases and testing.
However, it may give rise to differences in previously reported numbers of cases and rates in some areas. The change has been retrospectively applied to tests carried out from 1 September 2020, and data in the dashboard was updated to reflect this change on 16 November 2020. Due to reallocation of cases in this way, the number of cases reported by local authority may be artificially high or low on 16 November 2020.
The effect in York is quite dramatic. Instead of a cumulative case figure of 4555 we now see a figure of 5207. The 5000 case milestone was passed on 10th November. Looking back, the daily number of York positive test results peaked at 139 on 13th October.
The per 100k pop figure reached 449.9 a couple of days later.
The following table and graphs reflect the new government supplied figures.
Given that tactical decisions on how to combat the spread of the virus have been taken based on the old figures, we think that some further explanation of this mistake should be made by the authorities.
“Close campus” call
The recent increase in Coronavirus case numbers in Heslington has led to renewed calls for the University campus to be closed. A York Councillor has written to the Director of Public Health suggesting that students should not return to the City after the winter break.
Instead they should pursue their course work via “on line” study.
It appears that student accommodation represents a particularly vulnerable transmission environment for the virus.
It now seems increasingly likely that a vaccine will be rolled out early next year. Students could then gradually return to the University after immunisation.
The move would be a bold one and might not be welcomed by some employed in student service and support industries. It may, however, be necessary if infection rates continue to rise.
It seems increasingly unlikely that the City could return to Tier 1 status on 3rd December as this could prompt an influx of visitors from more heavily infected areas.
Scarborough, with a rapidly increasing number of COVID cases, has already issued a “stay away” message to visitors.
ONE further death at York Hospital Trust announced today. It occurred on Thursday. The total death toll, at York and Scarborough hospitals, is now 40 since second COVID wave hit the area in late in September.
45 (FOURTY FIVE) additional positive test results were announced today.
Unfortunately the infection trend now is upwards in parts of the City with several neighbourhoods now above the national average. These are Heslington, Holgate East, South Bank and Wigginton.
Following a spike, the largest number of cases can now be found in the Fulford Road/Clementhorpe area.
On a more positive note, Osbaldwick now has the lowest number of cases recorded in any York neighbourhood since the beginning of October.
SIX additional deaths announced by York Hospital Trust today. This is the highest single day figure since the start of the second wave.
70 (SEVENTY) new positive test results announced today. This is the largest for over a week. Brings total number of cases to 4408
The blip may have originated in Heslington where – for the first time this week – an increase in the number of positive test results has pushed the neighbourhood above the national average infection rate. It is the only York area now in this category.
The results of the national lockdown could start to influence trends next week, so many will be watching the outcome with some anxiety.
York overall however remains below the national, regional and county case rate average.
Coronavirus related deaths at York and Scarborough hospitals
There has been ONE additional death announced today by the York Hospital Trust. It occurred yesterday (11th).
There have been 56 (FIFTY SIX) new positive test results announced today
The number of cases in the City continues to reduce slowly.
There has been a spike in infections in the South Bank and Dringhouses neighbourhood.
Other areas continue to be at or below the national average
3541 P2 tests were carried out in the City last week. Around 11% were positive.
Mass testing
The York Council has issued the following statement from Sharon Stoltz, Director of Public Health, about the opportunity for mass testing in York.
Sharon Stoltz, Director of Public Health, said:
We can confirm that City of York Council has not rejected the offer of mass testing and in fact, we are working to develop our proposals for introducing mass testing in the city.
Directors of Public Health have been asked to submit expressions of interest to test 10% of our local population on a weekly rolling basis, which will mean testing approximately 20,000 residents every week in York.
This is something new that we have never done before and so we wanted to take time to plan how this new testing programme can be delivered effectively and in a safe way. Anyone testing positive will need to be referred into our local contact tracing service and so, we also need some time to expand the service in order to accept more referrals.
We are currently taking on board learning from the approach taken in Liverpool and we are working on our ‘expression of interest’ proposals, which will be presented to the Outbreak Management Advisory Board next week for consideration, after which the proposal will be submitted to the Department for Health and Social Care.
In the meantime, anyone with symptoms of coronavirus can arrange a free test by visiting https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirusor calling 119″
City of York Council is once again thanking businesses and residents in the city and asking people to continue their efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
Since the 7 day rate of cases per 100,000 of population in York peaked at 309.6 on 20 October, the rate has recently fallen to 176.6 (as at 6 November). The rate in York is below the national and regional averages and is currently among the lowest in the Yorkshire and Humber Region.
The percentage of people who test positive after taking a community based (Pillar 2) test in York has fallen to 10.2% (as of 9 November) after a peak of 18% (on 15 October). The rate in York is currently lower than national and regional averages.
Council leaders are asking everyone to continue to practice Hands. Face. Space and self-isolate if they have symptoms or are told to by Test and Trace to continue to reduce the number of cases.
In recent weeks the council has launched its local contact tracing programme to reach those the national system has been unable to.
Since then, the number of people being contacted to check they are ok and identify any contacts has increased substantially.
In the past two weeks, the council has reached well over 80% of contacts passed to them by the national test and trace service and the team are thankful for the support of residents who are contacted for this vital service.
A new animation to explain how the local test and trace system works is now available on youtube and will be added to the council website.
Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council said:
This has been a challenging and uncertain period for everyone. One thing we can guarantee is that the people of this city will look after each other and we should be incredibly proud of that community spirit.
“Whilst it has been encouraging to see numbers falling in recent weeks, we cannot afford to be complacent as we have seen cases rise in other parts of the region and country.
“Our hope is that by the end of these national restrictions, if we continue our efforts, we can emerge at the lowest level of local restrictions.”
Sharon Stoltz, Director for Public Health said:
The news of potential vaccines being effective is encouraging however, until they are approved and mass vaccination is taking place, we can’t afford to be complacent.
“Recent weeks have seen a fall in the number of cases thanks to the efforts of people in the city. We want to continue to drive the numbers down further in the coming weeks.
“Washing our hands, wearing a face covering in busy public spaces and keeping a 2m distance from those you don’t live with remain as important as ever. As is self-isolating when you have symptoms or are told to by Test and Trace. These methods remain our best way of stopping the spread and keeping the people we love safe.”
Businesses urged to register for grants
City of York Council is urging eligible businesses to register for government grants now the application process has opened today, 12 November.
The latest Government grants cover both the brief period York was in Tier 2 restrictions and the current national lockdown. Council officers have been quickly working to set up the process after the government issued detailed guidance on delivering the three new grant schemes, which had been announced over the previous weeks.
The government-prescribed grant allocations, cover:
The period of national lockdown;
The brief period whilst York was in Tier 2 of local restrictions;
The new grant for sectors which have received no previous government support
Businesses will soon be able to apply for the following grants:
Lockdown Local Restriction Scheme
Business forced to close by law under national lockdown from 5 November will receive:
For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;
For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;
For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.
Tier 2 Local Restriction Scheme
Businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors, B&Bs and hotels will receive a proportion of the following monthly grants to reflect the 19 days spent in Tier 2:
For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants of £934 per month
For properties with a rateable value above £15k and below £51k, grants of £1,400 per month
For properties with a rateable value of £51k or above, grants of £2,100 per month
Sector support
A new government grant aimed at businesses which have not previously received support, including nightclubs, dance halls, and discotheques was introduced from 1 November 2020. However, this will be superseded from 5 November by the lockdown restriction scheme.
For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants of £667 per 14-day period
For properties with a rateable value above £15k and below £51k, grants of £1,000 per 14-day period
For properties with a rateable value of £51k or above, grants of £1,500 per 14-day period
The council has also been in extensive discussions with representative groups across the city to develop proposals for an additional discretionary fund given to local authorities by the government.
The council held an emergency decision of the executive member for finance and performance today (12 November), outlining how the fund could be used to support businesses which are forced to shut in the current lockdown, but miss out on the government funding, including:
Providing equivalent grants to the supply chains of business forced to close
Offering direct grants of up to £1334 per month for businesses which have to close but don’t pay rates
A voucher scheme to be spent on effective local business support
A small fund to support future events or works to bring customers to businesses
More details on the application process for these grants will be available soon. Register for business updates on the Council website at https://www.york.gov.uk/form/EmailUpdates, and you will be updated when applications go live.
Councillor Nigel Ayre, executive member for finance and performance, said:
Council staff have once again put in a huge effort to get these schemes live exceptionally quickly, and are ready to distribute these latest government grants to businesses.
“In the summer they distributed over £110m of support, resulting in York being one of the fastest paying councils during the first national lockdown. Businesses can rest assured that this is once again our aim. They can help us do this by providing all the relevant information that is required for fraud checks and waiting patiently for grants, contacting us to check on progress will only slow down payments.
“I’d also like to thank all the partners, business leaders and lots of individual businesses which have helped us to develop the discretionary scheme. All the government guidance suggests that the £4.2m discretionary fund will have to cover all business support activity until March 2022. Working together I think we’ve quickly found the fairest and most effective way to support those businesses which are deeply affected by COVID but have missed out on government support.”
Councillor Andrew Waller, executive member for the economy and strategic planning, said:
I’m pleased to see that after months of active lobbying for more urgent and comprehensive support for businesses, that we are now in a position to distribute these grants to businesses who urgently need them.
“This funding will go some way to protecting hundreds of York businesses and jobs, sectors like retail, and some self-employed/micro businesses are set to miss out. That being said I would urge businesses who have fallen through the cracks and will not benefit from these new announcements, to please contact us as soon as possible at economicgrowth@york.gov.uk and we will continue to raise these ongoing issues with the Government and regional partners.
“There is also a lot more local support for businesses beyond these grants. Please get in touch with Make it York, York BID or the Federation of Small Businesses as soon as possible to find out more.”
To get notification when grant applications open, and up to date info on other business support, sign up for our regular bulletins here www.york.gov.uk/form/EmailUpdates
4 (FOUR) more deaths at York Hospital Trust announced today. That is the largest single day announcement of fatalities since the second wave of COVID hit the City. Two fatalities occurred on 8th and two on the 9th November. For source details click here
There were 35 (THIRTY FIVE) additional positive test results announced today. That brings the total to 4228
Overall infection rates are now the lowest they have been for 6 weeks.
Only one neighbourhood (Wigginton) is marginally above the national average.
During the last week, during which time infection rates in the City have reduced, they have increased at the North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and national levels.
York now has one of the lowest infection rates in North Yorkshire. It is also much lower than other urban areas in Yorkshire. Hull now has the highest number of cases.
Centre for City’s view of York economy
The Centre for City’s group have updated their economic modelling work to reflect the latest impact of the lockdown. The figures suggest that York is faring about average when compared to other parts of the country.
Click image to access data
Hospital pressures
More than 450 NHS workers in North Yorkshire are off sick or self-isolating because of coronavirus.
Amanda Bloor, accountable officer for North Yorkshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, told a briefing that the staff shortages are having a “significant impact” on hospitals already under pressure from a surge in virus patients.
The absences come as the region’s main hospitals in Harrogate, Scarborough, York and South Tees are treating almost as many coronavirus patients as the first wave after a 33% jump in admissions in the last week.
On Tuesday, 252 patients were receiving emergency treatment, compared with 302 in spring.
Mrs Bloor told a briefing of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum: “We are seeing an increase in staff absences – there are 450 staff across the main North Yorkshire hospitals absent either with Covid or in self-isolation.
“Marrying that with the seasonal illnesses and absences that we would normally expect, it is having a significant impact on staffing levels.
“All of our trusts have got surge plans that allow them to respond to normal winter pressures but particularly where we are now with the increase in numbers of patients presenting with Covid symptoms.
“We have mutual aid agreements in place between hospitals so that they can support each and we can take a regional view.
“If the numbers do rise significantly that will mean that hospitals can not protect planned care capacity which they are working really hard to do.”
Harrogate Hospital currently has 28 coronavirus patients – an increase of 13 from last week.
York has 56 patients – after 15 were admitted in the last seven days.
South Tees – which is located in Middlesbrough but serves North Yorkshire residents – has the highest figure of 119 – an increase of 15.
It comes as NHS staff are reportedly to get twice-weekly home coronavirus tests as early as next week.
Professor Stephen Powis told the Health Service Journal that all patient-facing staff will receive asymptomatic testing, with tests to be rolled out across 34 hospital trusts and cover “over 250,000 staff”.
Universities
The media are reporting that students at York and St John Universities will be encouraged to return home in December. Travel dates will be staggered.
It is unclear whether those wishing to travel on public transport will be required to take one of the new “lateral flow” tests which have been used in a Liverpool pilot, with a turnaround time of under an hour and available for people without symptoms.
It is unlikely that the many foreign students currently studying at the University would be able to return home.
It remains unclear whether the Universities will reopen in January or whether “on line” study will become the new norm.
Back to Tier 1 says MP
Local MP Julian Sturdy has said that York should return to Tier 1 status on 3rd December when the current lockdown period is due to end.
There would be some serious issues to be addressed if the City were to encourage people from high infection areas to visit the City. The spike in September and October can be traced to contacts with people newly arrived in the City.
Now, with infection rates already back to those last seen in September, a strategy aimed at encouraging “locals” to use York shops maybe the safest way forward.
York currently has not yet taken up the offer from the government of “mass testing”.
The total York death toll (occurrences) is now 178.
No additional York Hospital Trust deaths have been announced today
35 (THIRTY FIVE) new cases were announced today bringing the total to 4228. Todays figure is the lowest since September. The 7 day rate figure at 179.48 is the lowest since the beginning of October and is further evidence that the epidemic is slowly declining in the City.
Some neighbourhoods are still showing a small increase in case numbers
Overall the City remains below the county, regional and national infection rate averages.
Council Q & A on COVID response including health and Education
Join the next live #AskTheLeaders Live Coronavirus Q&A on the council’s Facebook page this Wednesday 11 November at 5.30-6.30pm.
The panel will be discussing your questions and comments about emotional health, wellbeing, what we can do to support each other, education and the city’s response to Coronavirus.
Residents are invited to watch live on Facebook to hear from panellists including:
Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council
Cllr Carol Runciman, Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care
Sharon Stoltz, Director for Public Health
Maxine Squire, Assistant Director for Education and Skills
Naomi Lonergan, Director of Operations for North Yorkshire and York, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV)
Katherine Davies, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV).
Residents can interact with the session by either submitting questions in advance by emailing them to YourQuestions@york.gov.uk or commenting on the live video on Facebook where leaders will read out questions and respond. Questions may be answered by theme rather than individually, so that the conversation covers as many topics as possible.
Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said:
2020 has been an exceptionally tough year for us all, which is why it is important that we all come together to help each other through these difficult times. We have a panel for this live Q&A session that will help give us information on how to look after our own and others health and wellbeing.
“We will also be answering your questions on the latest information on our response, with schools and the public health measures that have been put into place across the city.”
Cllr Carol Runciman, Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said:
As we once again find ourselves in a national lockdown it is vital that we look out for one another during this extremely difficult time. There are some simple steps that we can all take to help each other, a phone call or a text can make a huge difference to someone’s day.
“It’s important to remember that it’s okay to not be okay during this time and that there is help and support ready and waiting whether your problem is big or small. Residents can comment live on Facebook or submit their questions beforehand to YourQuestions@york.gov.uk.”
For the latest York updates on service changes, online support and how you can get involved in supporting your community visit www.york.gov.uk/Coronavirus
TWO further deaths reported at York Hospital Trust. One occurred on Saturday and one on Sunday.
41 (FOURTY ONE) positive test results announced today bring the total number of cases to 4193. This is the lowest number of new cases for over a month.
Two neighbourhoods are (marginally) above the national infection rate. They are Westfield/Chapelfields/Foxwood North & Wigginton.
Heslington – for the first time since September – is no longer above the national case incidence rate.
Overall the City remains below the county, regional and national infection level.
NHS parking decision
The Council has agreed to allocated the Union Terrace coach park for the use of NHS staff working at York Teaching Hospital for the duration of the lockdown (5th November to 3rd December 2020). As per the lockdown in the spring, the NHS will manage the capacity within the coach park. This will be reviewed in line with changes to COVID Alert levels
