ONE additional death at the York Hospital Trust announced today. It occurred on Monday.
80 (EIGHTY) additional positive test results today bringing the total to 3537. The rate per 100k population has declined steadily since it peaked at 309.58 on 20th October.
Continuing good news with the rate of increase still stable and continuing signs of a decline in cases at City level. More neighbourhoods now have infection rates below the national average and cases at Heslington – although still higher than in other neighbourhoods – have now halved compared to the start of the local spike.
There is some concern about the steady increase in case numbers in Rawcliffe and Clifton South which now has the second highest rate in the City.
ONE additional death announced at York Hospital Trust. Occurred on Sunday
No further care home deaths
60 (SIXTY) additional positive test results brings total to 3457
7 day cases per 100k population figure falls below 300 as infection rate continues to stabilise. Rates in Heslington and Tang Hall falling
Some additional neighbourhoods now have infection rates above the national average. Recent surge in case numbers in + Heworth South and The Groves.
Live Well in York during COVID
Some updated information on this web site. Click graphic to access
Click to access
Surplus food distribution in Foxwood
Volunteers are continuing to hand out surplus food to Foxwood residents during the half term. The sessions are likely to be very popular so the advice is to get there early
Council agrees £42750 budget to continue free school meals during half term
The Council has agreedto allocate £42,750 of existing emergency funding to be used to support 2850 of York schoolchildren with free school meals during October 2020 half term.
This is for children who normally receive free school meals during term-time.
There have been no further deaths announced by the York Hospital Trust today
83 (EIGHTY THREE) additional positive test results announced today. Cumulative total now 3397.
Slight slowing of rate of new cases is being sustained although some neighbourhoods ( e.g. Clifton North) are showing above national average rates for the first time
There have been no further deaths at the York Hospital Trust announced today
There were 54 (FIFTY FOUR) positive test results announced today bringing the cumulative total to 3314.
The rate of increase in case numbers continues to be stable. There has not, as yet, been any sustained reduction in the number of new cases being reported each day.
The rate per 100k population figure peaked at 308.15 last Tuesday.
At neighbourhood level, the least affected area is now Huntington. The numbers at Heslington are still high but are slowly declining.
There is a high rate of growth in positive test results the Rawcliffe/Clifton South neighbourhood,
There have been no further Coronavirus deaths in the York hospital today.
There were 56 (FIFTY SIX) additional positive test results announced today. This is the smallest number for some days. The total number of COVID infections in the City has now reached 3072
The 7 day moving average, per 100k population, peaked at 307.2 on Sunday before showing a small fall.
We are currently seeing on average around 80 additional cases in the City each day
The neighbourhood profile has changed little over the last week with Heslington having around 3 times more cases than the next worst affected neighbourhood (Tang Hall).
The least affected neighbourhood is now Poppleton/Rufforth/the Askhams which, with 5 cases, is below the national average.
The government has also updated its stats on the number of Pillar 2 tests carried out in the City in the period up to 14th October. As expected, the additional capacity introduced at the Heslington testing site has increased the number of tests undertaken. As the graph below demonstrates, the percentage of positive rule continues to rise but is still below 1 in 5.
Other information not yet available
Employment and business grants improved
The government has announced changes to business and jobs support arrangements today.
Cash grants of up to £2,100 a month will be given to firms in Tier 2 areas – enough for all affected hospitality, accommodation and leisure premises.
They will be retrospective, so any region which has been under enhanced restrictions can backdate their claim to August
For self-employed people, the size of the grant they can access will also be doubled to £3,750 – with the amount of average profits they can claim for rising from 20% to 40%.
And there will be changes to the Job Support Scheme, which is for companies experiencing lower demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Employees will only need to work 20% of their normal hours – instead of the original 33% – to be eligible.
And the government will significantly reduce the amount employers have to contribute – from 33% to 5%.
Government grants
The government has announced it is allocating £1 billion of additional support to help local authorities get through the winter. City of York Council is to £941,155 of that money.
There has been a further COVID related death at the York Hospital Trust. It occurred on Monday
Unfortunately today sees a record high number of new cases announced. There were 142 (ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTY TWO) additional positive test results today.
That means that there have been a total of 3016 cases in the City.
The 2000 case milestone was passed as recently as the 8th October.
The rate per 7 days peaked at 91.86 on Sunday. The trend is still upwards but is not as steep as seen earlier in the month.
The infection rate per 100k population has peaked at 305.30 (Sunday). This is higher than the regional and national averages.
The university area still has the highest rate of York neighbourhoods.
Universities
The University of York said that as of yesterday (Tuesday), it was aware of 304 individuals within the university community who were currently self-isolating because they had had a positive Covid-19 test.
It said the university had about 4,500 members of staff and a student body of around 18,000.
York St John University said, as of yesterday, 57 members of its community were currently self-isolating because they had had a positive Covid-19 test, adding: “Close contacts have been identified and advised to self-isolate.”
York launches local contact tracing system
City of York Council is launching a new local test and trace system to help people who have recently tested positive and aid in the city’s ongoing efforts to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
Following extensive lobbying efforts, the Council has been working with the national test and trace system to establish the service, which from tomorrow (Thursday 22 October) will see the local public health team contact those the centralised system has been unable to.
People contacted will be advised to isolate, talked through the local support available when isolating, and asked about details of their close contacts so these can then be followed up by the national team.
The service will run Monday to Friday initially, increasing over the coming weeks to a seven day service, with residents being contacted using a local (01904) phone number. Text messages will also be sent to people with mobile phones telling them to expect a call. If this is still unsuccessful, then a home visit will be made, and if no-one is at home, a letter with details of how to contact the team will be delivered to those advised to isolate, following Covid-19 guidelines.
Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council and Chair of the York Outbreak Management Advisory Board said:
“Together with partners across the city we have been lobbying the Government to provide capacity to establish a localised tracing program to support the national system, which unfortunately continues to fall short of expectations.
“Where contact tracing has been localised in other parts of the country it has been hugely successful in reaching more of those who have contracted coronavirus quickly, helping to slow the spread of the virus. Our trained contact tracers will contact those the national system have been unable to, and this work will be invaluable in helping to keep our city safe and open.
“I want to thank everyone who has engaged with the test and trace system so far and followed advice to self-isolate. We all appreciate how challenging this year has been, and we must work together to support our businesses, schools and key workers, and ensure that our collective effort and the sacrifices made by so many do not go to waste.
“Our public health teams are doing an excellent job, but it’s also the personal responsibility of each and every one of us to keep our city and people safe and the places we love open by ensuring that we follow the public health advice.”
Sharon Stoltz, Director for Public Health at City of York Council said:
“Test and Trace is one of the key methods to support the lowering of transmission rates and keeping York residents safe. Our local contact tracers will work with the national Test and Trace to find those who have tested positive but have not responded to the National Test and Trace calls. The more people we contact, the lower we can bring the rate of transmission. This also helps us gather local intelligence, which enables us to provide a more effective response to the spread of the virus.
“We all have a role to play in keeping the people we love safe and the places we love open. Self-isolating when you have symptoms or are told to by test and trace and Hands Face Space are some of the key things we can all do for each other.
“Support is available for those who are self-isolating by contacting our helpline on 01904 551550 or emailing COVID-19help@york.gov.uk and I want to thank everyone who has, is and will self-isolate when asked to do so, it really does make a difference.”
There have been no further hospital deaths in York today. However an additional death in a care home has been registered (7th Oct) bringing the cumulative total there to 81.
There have been an additional 101 (ONE HUNDRED AND ONE) positive test results announced today. That brings the cumulative total to 2874
The rate per 100k population figure peaked at 295.48 on Friday. That is higher than the rates at regional and national level.
It may be worth remembering, though, that the rate in the majority of neighbourhoods is at, or below, the national average. It is the Heslington & Tang Hall areas that push the City into the Tier 2 restriction category
64% of positive test results are being recorded by people aged under 30.
Outbreak Management Board meeting tomorrow
A meeting of the City’s Coronavirus Outbreak management board takes place tomorrow. Its agenda has been published (click)
The meeting will receive a background report which will confirm that case numbers in York are now above both regional and national rates.
Council report to meeting on 21st October 2020
The meeting will also hear areporton communications. The presentations makes no mention of the big question – a lack of information on key issues like health capacity & or positivity percentages by neighbourhood.
It does, however, offer a glimpse of responses on some questions posed during the Councils “big conversation” survey.
Likely to be of particular interest, will be the report from the 4 higher/further education establishments in the City.
It says that they have 404 active positive cases across staff and students, resulting in around 3,000 students needing to self isolate in either their University or college accommodation, or in private homes across the City.
The Universities don’t seem to have any further initiatives to offer as they struggle to stem the spread of the virus.
If cases continue to increase, then it is possible that the campus and student accommodation units will be subject to greater quarantine restrictions or that they may have to close altogether for several weeks.
The meeting will also hear of plans for a local contact tracing initiative (click)
A further COVID related death was recorded by the York Hospital Trust on Saturday. That takes the total number of fatalities to 10 since the 3rd October.
The numbers are still lower than were recorded during April and May earlier in the year. The table below shows the distribution by neighbourhood during the first wave of infections. This is influenced by the location of hospitals, care homes etc.
There have been a further 87 (EIGHTY SEVEN) new positive test results announced today. This brings the total, since the start of the pandemic, to 2773. The rate per 100,000 population peaked at 289.64 last week. That figure is higher than the regional or UK average. Although still increasing, the infection rate is now showing signs of stabilising.
The government is now only publishing the neighbourhood infection figures 5 days in arrears. We can now monitor trends. The principle area of concern remains the University/Heslington/Fulford neighbourhood.
Council say we won’t go into Tier 3 restrictions
Sharon Stoltz, Director of Public Health, said;
“We are aware of media speculation that York could soon move to tier 3.
There are currently no plans to move York into Tier 3 and we have not received anything from central government to suggest that this is likely.
“This weekend saw tier 2 restrictions come in place to slow the spread of Coronavirus. I want to thank residents and businesses for their hard work in adapting to the new restrictions and I would ask that everyone continues to practice ‘Hands. Face. Space’, to stay at home if asked to by test and trace, and to get a test if you have symptoms.
“We will of course continue to share any updates as soon as we have them.”
131 (ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE) additional positive test results today bringing the total to 2686.
No additional York hospital deaths today.
Infection rate still increasing but seems to be stabilising at an average of around 80 new cases each day.
Rate per 100,000 population was 281 on Thursday. That is higher than the national rate.
Government has still not restarted publishing results at a neighbourhood level. There has been no explanation of the change in policy. These are the figures for the most recently published 7 day period to 13th October
York is now in the top 25 of affected areas in the country
How the virus grew in York during last 6 weeks
There has been a lot of agonising in the City about how Coronavirus cases – and more recently deaths – have grown so quickly.
Some “blame” visitors, some the concentration of hospitality outlets while others choose to single out “students”.
The authorities can’t, or won’t, reveal the linkages between “contacts” and the source and locations of infections, so the truth is that no one really knows how the infection chain developed so quickly.
It is true to say, though, that the increase in cases had begun before large numbers of students started arriving in the City in mid September.
The following maps (taken from government figures click) demonstrate that the Heslington area was largely free of the coronavirus in early September. It also had a relatively low population.
The arrival of large numbers of students does seem to have triggered a significant rise is cases. The neighbourhood is now one of the worst hit in the region.
When the government lastpublishedits neighbourhood figures, the Heslington/University/Fulford area had had 119 cases during the previous week. With over 1000 students and staff now understood to be self isolating, the confirmed case numbers may now have risen again.
COVID cases early SeptemberCOVID cases late SeptemberCOVID cases early October
Only a post pandemic public inquiry will shed a full light on the nature of the decisions about reopening Universities, which were made during the summer months, and who made them.
It does appear though that the authorities underestimated the threat of virus transmission outside the strict teaching and study environment.
In the meantime, we must hope that Tier 2 restrictions, coupled to voluntary strict quarantining arrangements, will produce a downturn in case numbers across the whole City.
Council report on COVID recovery plan
The Council’s Executive are considering an update on their COVID recovery plan at a meeting on Thursday. It can be read by clicking here
This is the latest list of “can and cannot”
What the restrictions mean
In a bid to stem the rising number of COVID-19 cases in our area the new Government rules, which apply to everyone in York, mean that:
you must not meet socially with friends and family indoors, in any setting, unless you live with them or have formed a support bubble with them – this includes private homes, and any other indoor venues such as pubs and restaurants
you may continue to see friends and family you do not live with outside, including in a garden or other outdoor space – when you do so you must not meet in a group of more than 6 people
visiting indoor hospitality/leisure/retail settings is restricted to 1 household – 2 households must not meet in these settings, unless they are in a support bubble
you should only travel for essential reasons, you can continue to travel for work or to access education but should try to reduce the number of journeys you make where possible
you can go on holiday outside of the area, but you should only do this with people you live with, or have formed a support bubble with, and dependant on any local restrictions in the area you’re visiting
you can play a team sport only when formally organised by a sports club or similar organisation, and sports-governing body guidance has been issued
wedding receptions and celebrations for up to 15 people are permitted in the form of a sit-down meal and in COVID secure settings, not in private dwellings
up to 30 people can attend a funeral (York Crematorium capacity is 18), and 15 people can attend a wake in a COVID secure setting, not in private dwellings
certain businesses selling food or drink on their premises are required to close between 10.00pm and 5.00am
serving food and drink will be restricted to table service only
businesses and venues selling food for consumption off their premises, can continue to do so after 10.00pm as long as this is through a delivery service, click-and-collect, or drive-thru
leisure and entertainment venues are required to close between 10.00pm to 5.00am
you should only use public transport for essential purposes, such as travelling to school or work
you should work from home wherever possible
exercise classes will only be permitted indoors if it is possible for people to avoid mixing with people they do not live with (or share a support bubble with
Be aware that:
schools, universities and places of worship remain open
you can meet people outside in parks or open spaces, following ‘the rule of 6’ and remembering ‘hands. face, space’
exercise classes and organised sport can continue to take place outdoors
