Covid increase in Wrexham
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Not a paper that I usually take notice of but it was the only one that I found with a reference,
The Sun 18th June said, “A source at the facility claims the number of positive tests tripled in ten days and around 200 of the 1,500 workforce are self-isolating at home.”
Maybe the higher number of N Wales new cases have been these spread over a few days.
This was also dated 18th June by The Grocer
“The Grocer understands the site in Llangefni, North Wales, was closed today after the personal intervention of 2 Sisters founder Ranjit Singh Boparan, despite having carried on operating since 28 May when the outbreak was first uncovered by management.”
The mainstream media have been scaremongering or twisting things throughout the pandemic, surprised how some can be so credulous as to believe their latest twaddle.
Very good news again to see positive cases falling, PHW data showing well over half Wales’s local authority’s having no new cases yesterday with the others having very very few. Also the lowest daily death rate of the pandemic in Wales
Hopefully we are on our way to some sort of normality, even after the supposed VE day spike or the BLM protests second wave, things are settling down. We know the old adage that it doesn’t sell papers but perhaps some good news and the return of some sunshine, will help lift peoples spirits after all the doom and gloom.
I wish I had your confidence about the level of the decrease – I am sure if you speak to any of the workers at Rowan Foods that they are not likely to agree with your assessment. It does not matter that we are getting more cases diagnosed due to increased testing as each of us should be concerned as it only takes one contact with an infected person for the risk of catching Covid is very high.
The closure we get to people the greater the chance of the spread in factory settings with the type of production line they have in Rowan.
Lets hope that PHW can track the contacts and reduce the spread.[quote]
Looks like someone is trying to do some form of news management- Wrexham.com had an article on the 18th but no follow up since — lets hope someone comes out with what is actually happening and whether we should be worried or not.
https://www.wrexham.com/news/38-staff-test-positive-for-coronavirus-at-rowan-foods-health-minister-concerned-at-north-wales-outbreak-188062.html%5B/quote%5DWe have asked Public Health Wales, who are apparently leading things locally, for information but had no reply.
We have asked via two other separate routes, one last night and one earlier today, to basically nudge PHW to hopefully respond / include us on any local communications.
We asked the First Minister yesterday about the local issue – and on a tweet today tagged PHW in as well, with a hope it might get them to release local information more widely.
The First Minister said “…we will now have people more directly involved in the outbreak at Rowan Foods in Wrexham and we will learn more as a result of the investigations that will be taken forward.” ( @PublicHealthW did not respond) https://t.co/GN5PQVCtRs
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) June 20, 2020
JaneJ, as I and probably most do not have the chance to directly discuss outbreaks with Rowan Foods then unfortunately, as with all aspects of this pandemic, we rely on the available information to reach conclusions. Our Welsh Government with their Covid 19 briefings has quoted PHW information all along and have been telling us that everything they have done is based around the scientific advice reached from this.
PHW has published detailed figures, currently updated at 2 pm daily to help us all assess the severity of the pandemic in all the regions of Wales. We have seen high figures of positive cases with sadly many deaths during the past few months and most of us have adhered to the rules because these statistics showed that the virus was spreading in the community at large.
Personally, this has been my approach to how I have dealt with the situation, with me sensibly avoiding situations where the risk was high.
Welsh Government testing was a fiasco at the start of this pandemic with the Health Minister blaming everyone and everything but himself. The virus was spreading, passed around by people, some unaware they were asymptomatic, while low testing prevented the true scale of transmission being reported. Figures that were reported although high and of massive concern would have been very much on the low side of actual total infections.
Currently we are confidently told testing is carried out much more frequently, is well within capacity and many people are tested more than once. Using only common sense as a guide should mean that the daily figures quoted by PHW are much more accurate and correct, showing that the virus transmission in the community is virtually nil.
This if they are correct, and we have no real reason to think otherwise, should help us the public at large to reach a level of confidence where we are willing to try and get back to normal. We need to return to normal; we need to open routine hospital admissions and resume normal Cancer screening appointments as soon as physically possible.
We will of course have some outbreaks of the virus and we may still get the second wave but the true severity of these should be shown in the PHW daily updated figures and not in poor media coverage or social media gossip.
Anglesey isn’t faring too well.
Leaderlive 21/06/20 Dr Christopher Johnson, consultant in Health Protection at Public Health Wales said: “As of 3pm on Sunday, June 21 we have recorded an increase of 83 confirmed positive cases identified over the past 24 hours.
Why are they only “sampling” tests in Rowan Foods? Why aren’t they testing all 1500 employees? If you don’t test you will certainly not find cases. At the original out break of Covid 19 there were few cases found in North Wales not because it wasn’t here but because very few tests were carried out. It appears everyone at the 2 Sisters Factory on Anglesey have been tested. So who decides whether everyone or only a sample number are tested when there is an outbreak of Covid in a factory ?
Agree with Wrexview there does not seem to be any logic in only very small number of people at Rowan being tested- appreciate there are a number of production lives and functions for the 1500 but communal toilets, canteens etc surely means anyone could have cross spread the infection.
If wrexview and JaneJ understood what sampling meant in relation to health matters, they would realise that what is being done is a recognised method of assessment of risk. As far as only a ‘very small number’ being tested , 1/6th of the workforce is not a small number and they have stated that there remains the possibility that more may be tested if deemed necessary.
Rather premature condemnation of the approach being taken.
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