Coronavirus York updates; 24th November 2020

Christmas

Households across the UK will be able to form a “Christmas bubble” with two other households during a five-day window over the festive period, it has been announced.

Between 23 to 27 December, people will be able to meet with those two other households in their bubble – but only in a private home, a place of worship or outdoor public spaces.

Travel restrictions across the whole of the UK will also be lifted during the five-day period, allowing people to travel between countries or between tiers in order to meet with those in their bubble.

Deaths and test results

ONE additional death reported by the York Hospital Trust. It occurred on Saturday. The cumulative second wave death toll at York and Scarborough hospitals is now 62.

THREE more care home deaths have been announced. ONE occurred on 17th November and TWO on the 19th. The cumulative second wave death toll in local care homes has now reached seven (CQC figures).

There is some concern in the City that any decision, on which “Tier” York will find itself in on Thursday, may be influenced by hospital capacity issues. The above hospital deaths figure may not tell the whole story.

The Trust has not broken down the split in fatalities between the York and Scarborough units. Furthermore, the NHS is (rightly) flexing its capacity to address peaks in different parts of the region, so there may be some non York residents included in the recent 62 reported fatalities.

An alternative way of looking at the issue is by analysing the data on death occurrences provide by the ONS (click) and which relates to people normally resident in York.

This shows that there have so far been 185 fatalities this year as a result of COVID.

However, only 14 of these have occurred since the beginning of September. Of these, 8 were hospital deaths

Even allowing for some delay in figures coming through, that represents a more encouraging picture.

There have been 29 new positive test results announced today. That is the lowest daily total since September. It brings the total number of cases to 5518.

The daily new infection rate (7 day rolling average) is now below 40.

Only two neighbourhoods in York are now above the national infection rate. They are Clifton Without and Skelton (following a recent spike) and Heslington where case levels are reducing only slowly.

Elsewhere in the City case numbers are generally falling steadily.

Extra financial support for York businesses

Even more York businesses impacted by the latest lockdown can benefit from financial support as City of York Council launches a new grant scheme today.

The council has worked with partners and business leaders to decide how to most fairly and effectively use the discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant.

Businesses now have until Monday 7 December to apply for the grants, which are open to:

Businesses effectively forced to close through lockdown but don’t qualify for government grants, whether they are liable for business rates or not.
Businesses where trade is impacted by more than 75% due to lockdown, whether they are liable for business rates or not.

Applications must be from:

A York-based business which have fixed premises in York – (note fixed premises is not a market stall or pitch) or
businesses run by a York resident and trade is at least 75% in York (note this could be a market stall or pitch).

The council is also preparing a voucher scheme for local businesses to access support like training form local providers.

Business must not be in administration, insolvent, or have a striking off notice made against it, must have started trading before 5 November 2020, and not in receipt of unoccupied rates for business rates.

For more information about all the grants available for business affected currently visit the council website.

Coronavirus York updates; 23rd November 2020

Deaths & test results

FOUR further deaths have been announced by the York Hospital Trust today. One occurred on Friday, one on Saturday and two yesterday. The second wave death toll at the York and Scarborough hospitals has now reached 61.

The have been THIRTY SEVEN (37) new positive test results announced today. That brings the total to 5489

The infection rate continues to gradually reduce in the City and is now less than a third of the rate seen at the peak on 16th October.

Two neighbourhoods in York remain above average rates. This is partly because we are continuing to see a reduction in case numbers at county, regional and national levels.

Restrictions to be eased

England’s second national lockdown will be lifted on 2 December when a revised three-tiered system of restrictions will allow shops, gyms and hairdressers to reopen across the country.

Lockdown will end a week on Wednesday, following a month of tougher national instructions.

The lifting of the national lockdown from 2 December will see:

Non-essential shops, hairdressers, gyms and leisure facilities reopen across the whole of England
Collective worship, weddings and all outdoor sports can resume, subject to social distancing, across the whole of England
The “rule of six” will return – meaning people will no longer be limited to seeing only one other person in outdoor public – across the whole of England
The previous 10pm curfew for pubs, bars and restaurants will be extended to 11 pm, with last orders at 10pm. But new rules mean pubs operating under Tier 2 can only trade if customers have a “substantial meal”. And in Tier 3, pubs must shut and can only sell goods for takeaway.

In Tier 1 and 2 areas (likely to include York) limited numbers will be allowed back into spectator stadiums.

In Tier 1, 50% capacity or 4,000 spectators – whichever is lower – will be allowed in outdoor venues, with a maximum 1,000 indoors.
In Tier 2, 50% capacity or 2,000 spectators – whichever is lower, will be allowed in outdoor venues, with a maximum 1,000 indoors.

Whether the new LNER community stadium at Monks Cross is complete and can actually now be brought into use remains to be seen.

People in England will also now be able to travel abroad for holidays once again from 2 December, although they will remain subject to quarantine rules.

It is unclear whether there will be any enforced restrictions on travel from high to low infection rate areas within the UK. The government talks of “guidance”. That could be a critical issue in York if large numbers seek to travel to the City in the run up to Christmas. There is anxiety that an influx could push up local infection rates.

In Tier 1 areas, people will still be urged to work from home wherever possible.

Theatres will have to close in the top tier of restrictions, with audience capacity limits set for venues in tiers where performances are permitted.

The tiers that areas are allocated to will be announced on Thursday.

University students in England will be urged to take two Covid tests, three days apart, to cut the risk of spreading infection when they travel home for Christmas. These are lateral flow tests with rapid results – with those testing negative expected to leave university within the following 24 hours. The pre-Christmas testing is expected to start in York next week. But testing will remain voluntary.

Rules on gatherings and travel over the festive period are still yet to be confirmed.

The “Covid Winter Plan” has been published on the government’s website. (click)

The BBC has published the following summary of the planned restriction levels.

Coronavirus York updates; 22nd November 2020

Deaths and test results

TWO additional deaths at the York Hospital Trust were announced today. The fatalities occurred on Wednesday. It brings the cumulative second wave total at the York and Scarborough Hospitals to 57.

FOURTY (40) additional positive test results announced today. Brings the cumulative total to 5452

The latest verified, 7 day rolling, average number of new cases is now 46.1. That is the lowest rate since 1st October.

To put the figure into context it is still almost twice the highest rate (29.1) seen, during the first wave of the pandemic, on 5th May.

The highest rate recorded during the second wave (so far) has been the 133.9 which was seen on 16th October.

For the first time since September no neighbourhood in York is above the 300 cases per 100k population threshold

The New Earswick neighbourhood has had a consistent downward trend for several weeks and now has only one case.

The case numbers in other neighbourhoods, including Heslington and Poppleton/Rufforth/Askhams, are trending downwards

The case rate is reducing at City, County, Regional and national level.

Coronavirus York updates; 21st November 2020

Deaths and test results

There have been THREE additional deaths announced by the York Hospital Trust today. Two occurred on Thursday and one yesterday. This brings the total second wave fatality toll at York and Scarborough hospitals to 55.

THIRTY ONE new positive test results announced today bringing the case total to 5412.

Today sees the first significant reduction in case numbers since Lockdown 2 was introduced. The weekly case rate number is below 50 for the first time for seven weeks.

Case numbers are also continuing to decline at county, regional and national level.

Most neighbourhoods, including Heslington and Fulford Road, are now seeing reduced numbers of cases.

There has been a recent spike in the Clifton Without/Skelton neighbourhood

Coronavirus York updates; 20th November 2020

Deaths and test results

THREE (3) additional deaths announced by York Hospital Trust today. Two occurred on Wednesday and one yesterday. Brings second wave total fatalities at York and Scarborough hospitals to 52

THIRTY SIX (36) additional positive test results announced today bringing the cumulative total for the City to 5381

Most neighbourhoods remain below the regional and national averages.

There has been a spike in cases recently in the Clifton North area.

Case numbers at Heslington are beginning to fall again

Otherwise the slow gradual downward trend in case numbers continues. This is now matched at county, regional and national level.

Lockdown impact on case numbers

It may be worth remembering, as we start to assess the impact of lockdown 2 on York, that it took 2 months before case numbers peaked during the first lockdown period in the spring.

The second wave of infections in the City was already trending down before, first Tier 2 then full lockdown, restrictions were introduced.

However, the peak infection rate has, and remains, much higher than was seen in the spring. There is still a long way to go and it could be well into next year before infection rates start to reflect first wave exit numbers.

7 day rolling case number averages. First wave (March – June) compared to Second wave (Sept – Nov)

First lockdown started 16th March
First lockdown eased from 13th May.
York enters Tier 2 restrictions 17th October
Second lockdown starts 5th November

Source of infections

PHE has published some data indicating where victims may have come into contact with the virus. This is national data extracted from the the NHS App. and covered the period between 9th and 15th November. We believe that this information should also be published at a local level.

The major contact areas are revealed as supermarkets and schools. It is not suggested that these were the locations where victims caught the virus.

Surplus food distribution very popular

We understand that as many as 70 people have been attending the surplus food distribution sessions at the Foxwood Community Centre. Sessions take place twice a week.

More help for businesses

The York Council has announced how it proposes to allocate the Additional Restrictions Grant of £4,212,360 which it it has received as a one-off payment from the government. It must cover the current lockdown, any
future national lockdown, and any period when York might be
subject to local Tier 3 restrictions before the end of financial year
2021/22.

For businesses that predominantly supply their goods and services
the Government’s Inter Departmental Business Register shows there to be approximately 250 businesses in scope in York. Some are wholesalers to nonessential retail, while others are the greengrocers, fishmongers,
butchers, commercial laundries, cleaning contractors and others
who provide services to hospitality and accommodation providers.
A further related sector is companies who work with venues and
hospitality providers to arrange events – can also be thought
of as suppliers

For those with fixed commercial premises costs – rent payable to a landlord – a payment of £1,334 per 28-day qualifying restriction period (base level of LRSG(Closed) payments)
 For those without fixed premises costs, a payment of £500 per 28-day qualifying restriction period.

Details can be found by clicking here

Covid-secure winter beds for rough sleepers

The official number of rough sleepers in York has fallen to three and Covid-secure emergency winter beds are available to help people off the streets.

Arrangements are in place to ensure the welfare of rough sleepers this winter, including beds available in addition to the regular emergency accommodation. In line with guidelines to minimise the transmission of the virus, this accommodation is to support even more people off the streets, rather than sleeping rough and vulnerable to even more danger in the coldest months.

York goes above and beyond the national ‘severe weather scheme’ by making these beds available whether or not it’s freezing. We also accept rough sleepers’ dogs in a number of our hostels in York, and have done so since 2000.

Officers from the Salvation Army and the council are constantly working with people on the streets to bring them into the accommodation they need. Some of the winter beds offered are at council hostels where partner agencies and volunteer groups give extra support including providing food or clothing over the winter months.

In all emergency accommodation, people are offered help to address any issues which may have led them to becoming homeless. This includes referral to services for mental health or substance misuse, as well as training for work and how to manage a lasting tenancy. Once that stage is successfully underway, people are offered accommodation with less support before, hopefully, they move into private or affordable fully-independent homes.

Rough Sleeper services are operating as usual: for a bed, please go to 63 Lawrence Street before midday or call 01904 416562.

Anyone who sees a person sleeping rough can ring Streetlink on 0300 500 0194 which will alert us to visit the location and offer support. Many other ways to help people off the streets can be found at www.york.gov.uk/roughsleeping

Coronavirus York updates; 19th November 2020

Deaths and test results

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

Coronavirus York updates; 18th November 2020

Vaccination programme

There are 3 different types of vaccine

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”

Click links to read papers

1.	Declarations of Interest
2.	Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 October 2020, and actions arising PDF 153 KB Additional documents: Item 2 – MASTER Action Log – OMAB , item 2. PDF 324 KB
3.	Current Situation in York PDF 421 KB
4.	Communications and Engagement (including update from campaign task and finish groups) PDF 2 MB
5.	Update from Sub-Group: Universities and Higher Education Establishments PDF 393 KB
6.	Verbal Update on Contact Tracing
7.	Covid-19 Testing Proposals (presentation to be made at the meeting)
8.	Covid-19 Mass Vaccination (presentation to be made at the meeting)
9.	CVS and Healthwatch York Report: ‘What We Did During the Covid-19 Lockdown March-June 2020’ PDF 909 KB
10.	Agenda Items for the next MeetingItem for December meeting:· Economic Analysis of Covid Impacts – James Farrar/Simon Brereton
11.	Dates of Future Meetings
12.	Any Other Business

Coronavirus York updates; 17th November 2020

Deaths and test results

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.

Coronavirus York updates; 16th November 2020

Deaths and test results

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.

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.

This is what they say by way of justification.

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.

More details can be found by clicking here

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.

Coronavirus York updates; 15th November 2020

Deaths and test results

TWO more deaths at the York Hospital Trust announced today. One occurred on Friday and the other yesterday. That brings the cumulative second wave fatality total, at the York and Scarborough hospitals, to 42.

FIFTY TWO (52) addition positive test results announced today bringing the cumulative total for the City to 4505

The infection rate in the City is now more stable

At neighbourhood level it is very much a case of a “tale of two City’s”. Most areas are stable and remain below the national infection rate average.

Others including Heslington, Fulford Road, Wigginton, Holgate Eat and Huntington have begun to trend upwards. Based on previous experience such fluctuations are to be expected albeit these areas will require careful monitoring.

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