Coronavirus York updates; 23rd June 2020

Deaths and Test results

York has a positive lab test result on 21st June. This was the first since 2nd June. There were none yesterday. The cumulative total of positive results in the City is 463

There were no additional Coronavirus related deaths at the York hospital

Further easing of lockdown restrictions

A whole raft of changes to social distancing and other health restrictions have been announced today. The new social distance will be “1 metre+”

Facilities allowed to open from 4th July will be

  • Pubs, bars and restaurants but only with a table service indoors, and owners will be asked to keep contact details of customers to help with contact tracing
  • Hotels, holiday apartments, campsites and caravan parks but shared facilities must be cleaned properly
  • Theatres and music halls but they will not be allowed to hold live performances
  • In other changes weddings will be allowed to have 30 attendees, and places of worship will be allowed to hold services but singing will be banned (!)
  • Hair salons and barbers will be able to reopen but must put protective measures, such as visors, in place
  • Libraries, community centres and bingo halls
  • Cinemas, museums and galleries
  • Funfairs, theme parks, adventure parks, amusement arcades, skating rinks and model villages
  • Indoor attractions where animals are exhibited, such as at zoos, aquariums, farms, safari parks and wildlife centres

The following places will remain closed

  • Nightclubs and casinos
  • Bowling alleys and indoor skating rinks
  • Indoor play areas including soft-play
  • Spas
  • Nail bars and beauty salons
  • Massage, tattoo and piercing parlours
  • Indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities
  • Swimming pools and water parks
  • Exhibition or conference centres – other than for those who work for that venue.

Coronavirus York updates; 22nd June 2020

Deaths and test results

It is now 19 days since anyone tested positive for Coronavirus in York. The total of positive tests remains at 462

There have been no further Coronavirus deaths at York hospital

Groves Road closures

The proposal to close through routes in The Groves area was approved today by the Green Party’s transport executive. It remains to be seen whether the decision will be “called in” for review.

Initially we expect that the closures – anticipated to be implemented within 3 weeks – will have little effect other than perhaps inconveniencing some residents who live within the affected zone (They face a longish detour for some journeys).

Some cyclists may also feel less safe when using the narrow streets with two way working also being reintroduced.

However if traffic volumes return to more normal levels in the autumn, there remains concerns about the impacts on congestion and pollution levels in the surrounding area.

Coronavirus York Updates; 21st June 2020

Deaths and cases

Following yesterdays death at a York Hospital Trust hospital there have been no further fatalities

There have also now (19/6/20) been no further positive lab test results. That means there have been no new cases reported in the City since the total reach 462 on 2nd June.

Coronavirus meeting tomorrow

The York Outbreak Management Advisory Board will meet using webcast and is being put in place in order to improve the speed of the response, build on and involve local knowledge and improve co-ordination.

Established as part of the national Test and Trace programme, the meetings will advise and inform the development of City of York Council’s outbreak management plan and a local Test and Trace programme, reflecting the views of different communities and sectors across the city.

The first meeting of the board comes after City of York Council was awarded £733,896 last week by the Government to support the creation of new boards, local outbreak control plans and preventative work designed to protect residents. 

The meeting will hear that they have not been given access to the test results (pillar 2) being produced at local privately run testing sites like the one at Poppleton.

Testing centre

The absence of this information has been a source of irritation both for local healthcare professionals and those living in the City.

Details of the meeting and associated briefing papers can be found by clicking here

Coronavirus York updates; 19th June 2020

Deaths and test results

There have been no more Coronavirus deaths at York Trust Hospitals. The cumulative total remains at 213.

There have also been no more positive lab test results (17/6/20). The last positive result was on 2nd June which saw the cumulative total number of cases rise to 462. This has been the longest sequence of negative results in the City since the pandemic began.

Public Toilets

In addition to reopening existing public toilets, the Council is providing additional trailer facilities at St Sampson Square and Parliament Street.

Tourism recovery plan published

Welcome to Yorkshire has published a plan detailing how it expects the critical visitor economy to revive over the next few months. The plan can be read by clicking here. The proposals include a “Song for Yorkshire project to help celebrate the civic pride in our county”. There will also be a Welcome to Yorkshire Gift Card

Bus Grants

The Council has annouced how it will allocated government bus grants.

City of York Council has been awarded a total grant of £59,970 for the 12-week period commencing 17th March. The grant can only be used to support operators of council-tendered bus services and any unused grant must be returned to the DfT. The grant will be apportioned as follows:

  • ConnexionsBuses: £5,210.67
  • East Yorkshire Buses: £20,204.35
  • First York: £3,096.69
  • Transdev: £24,750.91
  • York Pullman: £6,707.38

Older residents trial new interactive games technology

Care home residents wanting to keep more active and alert through lockdown are trialling a new interactive light projector.

Those who can’t welcome visitors during the pandemic are enjoying this technology, and trying out new activities to support their physical and emotional health.

Older people, especially those living with dementia, are experiencing the brightly-coloured shapes and games which are projected onto tables, bed coverings, walls or floors. Playing and interacting with them can help improve co-ordination, stimulate responses and raise levels of social and physical activity.

Success!! Museum Gardens to reopen next week.

Our campaign to have the Museum Gardens reopened to the public has been successful.

The Garden will reopen to the public next week on Thursday 25th June.

They will be open 7 days a week but initially with restricted hours (10:30am – 6:00pm)

Our thanks to all who supported our campiagn and to Cllr Simon Daubeney who supported our representations.

A statement from the York Museums Trust reads;

“York Museum Gardens managed by the charity York Museums Trust,  will reopen to the public from Thursday 25 June.

Initially the Gardens will reopen seven days a week from 10:30am to 6pm.

The Trust are really looking forward to welcoming people back to enjoy the gardens as they come into full summer bloom. We recognise how important the Gardens are to York and are keen to support the city as it comes out of lockdown. We would like to ask that everyone follows social distancing guidelines to ensure the Gardens are a safe and welcoming space as possible.


“York Museum Gardens are a registered botanical garden, requiring high levels of maintenance, gardening and security because of the special plants and trees, unique Scheduled Monuments and Listed buildings within them. The costs of our Gardens team and keeping the Gardens free to all are met by York Museums Trust as part of our work as a charity. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a loss of 70% of York Museums Trust’s income and we have had to furlough most staff.

As we open York Museum Gardens we ask anyone who enjoys the Gardens to consider donating to the charity, to help York Museums Trust continue to maintain such a fantastic space for generations to come.

To donate, please go to: www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk “

Sleeping sickness new threat to City’s health?

Anyone hoping that the Councils post COVID strategy document would be a stimulating read may be disappointed.

A series of papers have now been published which are long on hyperbole but very short on tangible actions

Those hoping for a series of initiatives, incorporating measurable deliverables and with specific key milestones, will search in vain amongst the papers for the Executive meeting which is taking place on 25th June.

The expectation was that clear actions would be identified to take the City through the next 3 months at least. Only the half-hearted free parking initiative fits into that narrative.

Nor has any more up to date information been provided on the nature of the Councils financial crisis. The papers simply continue to wave the shroud of an £24 million – largely unspecified –  shortfall.

Additional spending is proposed on;

  • Supporting local businesses including the tourism sector (£100,000),
  • “Communities Recovery” (£250,000),
  • Creating places in which visitors can safely return to the City (£530,000),
  • Changing building access and deep cleaning (£50,000) and
  • ICT equipment to allow continued remote working (£500,000).

There is no mention of a freeze on new expenditure.

The report merely reports windfall savings on climate change, waste services, northern forest and local transport plan. All are the result of (unavoidable) delays caused by the lock-down.

The Council says that its capital investment programme is being “reviewed”. That means that the Council is continuing to slip further and further into debt.

The Council promises that it will have a “Big Conversation” with residents over the next 12 months.

Residents may choose to opt for something a little more robust.

Businesses reminded to apply for small and micro grant scheme

City of York Council is reminding eligible businesses that there is still time to apply for the upgraded small and micro grant scheme, which has been created to support local businesses.

Payments have already been made to 121 businesses, with more being paid each week. Businesses have until 30 June to apply for the scheme.

Grants payments between £1,000 and £10,000 will support small businesses, including those in shared offices and flexible work spaces, science parks and incubators, regular market traders without a business rates assessment, nurseries, B&Bs paying council tax instead of business rates, and charity properties which missed out under previous schemes are now eligible.

Small business and childcare nurseries                                          up to  £10,000
Micro business                                                             up to    £5000
B&Bs and market traders who live in York                    up to   £2,500
Self-employed with fixed property costsup to    £1,000

To apply, businesses must have been trading before 11 March 2020, have a rateable value or annual mortgage of below £51,000, and demonstrate both an ongoing fixed property cost and significant financial impact of the coronavirus. It is not available to any business eligible for any other government COVID grant.

Grant payments are being processed in batches, with the first batch paid on Friday 5 June. The council is also telling businesses that have applied not to worry if they don’t receive their payment this weekend – there will be further payments every Friday over the next three weeks.

Businesses can check eligibility and apply at www.york.gov.uk/COVIDMicroGrant .”

The council is using an additional £2.2m discretionary government fund to expand its own small and micros grant scheme, which has already supported over 3,000 local businesses affected by coronavirus.

The council acted quickly to distribute £110m of grants and rates relief to over 4000 York businesses, and created its own £1m grant scheme to support over 1000 more businesses which did not qualify for government support.

Under the discretionary fund, local authorities have been given an additional 5% of the total value of grants already distributed in York, together with some government rules and outline guidance on which businesses should benefit. However, this means councils have to use local knowledge to decide how to fairly distribute the money, as to benefit as many businesses as possible in the city.

Companies that are in financial difficulties because they fall outside the Government set limits are asked to contact Make it York to discuss their options. They can email business@makeityork.com

Coronvirus York update; 16th June 2020

Deaths and test results

There have been no further Coronavirus deaths recorded at York hospitals

There have been no further positive lab test results in the City. The total figure of 462 has been unchanged now for two weeks.

ONS have now published their updated statistics on causes of death across the country. It can be downloaded by clicking here.  It is subject to further refinement.

The tables cover the period up to 5th June. They reveal a cumulative total of 156 deaths attributed to the virus. There were a total of 1154 deaths in the City during the same period (all causes).

Of the Coronavirus deaths, most occurred in hospital (84) while 62 occurred in care homes. Others took place at home or in a hospice. The highest recorded number of deaths in York care homes in one week was twenty although this had fallen to one during the last recorded week.