“At long last cases are falling, but we must all follow the rules and stay extra vigilant over the coming months so as not to go through this again”
The latest detailed briefing on the pandemic situation locally has been published by the local authority.
The below update was published yesterday, and echos recent updates with community transmission in households thought to be the driver of the high local covid figures.
In some good news all sub-areas of Wrexham as defined by Public Health Wales have improved since last week, however as with the general figures it is a move that could be described as going from very bad to bad, as Wrexham still has the worst case rate in Wales.
Hospital admissions for Covid-19 in North Wales have plateaued, and sadly deaths ‘from Covid-19’ in North Wales have tripled in the last four weeks to a record high.
The full update from yesterday afternoon is copied below, and as usual all bolding and underlining of points is copied from Wrexham Council’s data:
Dear Councillors, Community Councillors and the media,
COMMUNICATIONS
Please share this document and the attached graphics and animations (GIFs) widely in your communities.
The key messages are:
- The people of North Wales have endured a month’s lockdown during which many people have become very sick and far too many have died
- At long last cases are falling, but we must all follow the rules and stay extra vigilant over the coming months so as not to go through this again
- Your vaccine is coming, but wait to be invited
A link to today’s Council public briefing note, which you can also share on social media, is provided here: https://news.wrexham.gov.uk/covid-19-briefing-note-if-we-drop-our-guard/
DATA ON THE VIRUS
Please find attached:
Table 1 – the summary of weekly data for Wrexham as a whole compared to other councils in North Wales
Table 2 – the summary of daily data for the 18 ‘MSOA’ statistical sub-areas of Wrexham used by Public Health Wales (PHW) in their Tableau
The County Borough as a Whole (Table 1)
The data show that the virus has definitely peaked, with the rate per 100,000 population (438.4) and positivity (21.6%) being much lower today than the 660.5 and 26.5% reported last Friday. However, Wrexham remains worst in Wales and it is likely to take 3 weeks before these rates can be halved, when they will still be high.
The ‘UK’ variant accounts for 85% (and rising) of new cases in North Wales. There are 2 cases of the ‘South Africa’ variant (10 in Wales) which are being closely monitored and, as yet, no cases of the much more worrying ‘Brazil’ variant. International travel restrictions should help reduce the risk from these variants, but it is local household transmission that remains the key driver of the disease.
Hospital admissions for Covid-19 in North Wales (144 week ending 24th January) have plateaued, but remain high, placing continued strain on over-stretched local hospitals. Sadly, deaths from Covid-19 in North Wales have tripled in the last four weeks to a record high (74 week ending 17th January) with more than 145 occurring over the current lockdown – a clear call for everyone to do everything we can to avoid this happening again.
The Sub-Areas (Table 2)
For once, all of the 18 ‘MSOA’ sub-areas of Wrexham used by PHW in their Tableau have improved since last week, but the figures remain high.
- 0 have recorded their worst figures since 20th October (shown in bold on the table), compared to 1 on the 22nd
- 2 have greater than 800/100k, compared to 5 on the 22nd
- 2 have greater than 700/100k (the ‘hotspots’) compared to 5 on the 22nd:
o Hermitage & Whitegate has 811 – the same as on the 22nd
o Caia Park has 714 – down from 896 on the 22nd
- 5 have greater than 550/100k, compared to 13 on the 22nd
- 14 are in the worst decile (10%) in Wales, compared to 16 on the 22nd, but this is because this threshold is much lower (291/100k) than it was last Friday (460), reflecting the fact that cases have fallen much more quickly elsewhere in Wales.
- 4 have less than 300/100k, compared to 1 on 22nd. The lowest is 90/100k, compared to 271 on the 22nd
Settings
Household transmission remains the principal driver of the disease, meaning that houses are the main setting, followed, some way below, by care homes, the Maelor Hospital and the prison. There are also several work-place clusters.
MANAGING THE VIRUS
General
The Level 4 Alert lockdown has clearly reduced the rate of infection, but figures remain high. Welsh Government (WG) has extend it for a further three weeks with two small changes around exercising outdoors and support bubbles for the most vulnerable.
Schools
Schools continue to provide education to pupils via remote learning and on-site for those children who are vulnerable or the children of key workers. WG have announced that these arrangements will continue until after the February half term (i.e. week beginning Monday 22nd February) after which there may be a phased return if cases continue to fall.
Other Council Services
The Council is continuing to provide critical services as publicised on our website.
Vaccination Programme
Please find attached:
Table 3 – the summary of daily and weekly data on the rollout of the vaccine across North Wales and Wales as a whole (NB – as of yesterday, BCUHB have begun publishing a daily ‘dashboard’ of data on the number of vaccinations undertaken in North Wales (bcuhb.nhs.wales) and data from this dashboard have been included in Table 3).
- Overall (Table 3)
The vaccination programme in North Wales is fast-moving and subject to daily change, but is currently on track to meet the mid-February target for vaccinating the Priority 1-4 most vulnerable groups.
- Care Homes
Residents and staff in Wrexham care homes continue to be vaccinated. To date, over 72% of residents and 48% of staff have been vaccinated and plans remain in place to vaccinate in homes which have had an active outbreak as soon as that becomes possible.
- Local Vaccination Centre
On Tuesday 26th of January the Local Vaccination Centre (LVC) at the Catrin Finch Centre on the University campus opened. It is operated between Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am to 6pm, but it is expected to expand to a 6 days a week operation as vaccine supplies increase. People cannot just turn up; they must wait for an invitation.
- GP Practices
As previously reported, all GP practices have agreed to provide vaccinations and will have received some supplies this week. This will expand in the coming weeks with priority groups being contacted to attend for vaccinations. Again, people cannot just turn up; they must wait for an invitation. Vaccines are being distributed to GP practices based on the numbers of patients on their register within the priority groups, but, to ensure equity of supply, additional vaccines have been provided to GPs in the south of the County Borough because the LVC in the Catrin Finch Centre is supporting residents in the north.
More information on vaccinations can be obtained via the following links:
- Wales – https://phw.nhs.wales/topics/immunisation-and-vaccines/covid-19-vaccination-information/about-the-vaccine
- North Wales: https://bcuhb.nhs.wales/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination-information/
Regards
Chief Officer Planning and Regulatory
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