20 hospital acquired cases of Covid-19 in current Wrexham Maelor Hospital outbreak

Local health board representatives say there is ‘optimism’ as cases per 100k figures for coronavirus in North Wales are starting to reduce.

Today we asked Health Minister Vaughan Gething for the latest information on the outbreak locally, if it was ongoing, how many people were affected, and if he could not give that detail any context possible.

The Minister noted he did not have the figures to hand, but promised further detail via the Health Board later in the day.

During the briefing the below slide was shown, indicating the rolling seven day per-100k figures. You can view the full dashboard data, and download raw data via the Public Health Wales Tableau page here.

Today’s update shows +37 on the day on day cases figures on the dashboard for Wrexham, with 11.1% positive proportion of tests, with Wrexham’s seven day rolling up to the 10th of November at 153 per 100k.

As promised, an update from the Health Board emerged with Debra Hickman, Acting Executive Director of Nursing at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: “There are currently 20 hospital acquired cases of COVID-19 related to the outbreak at Wrexham Maelor Hospital and we continue to investigate each case and take appropriate action to prevent the spread of the virus.”

“Following the firebreak, there is optimism that cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 of population are starting to reduce. That said, we still have challenges including an ongoing outbreak at Wrexham Maelor Hospital and cases in care homes. We are working in partnership with local authorities and Public Health Wales to make sure any care homes in difficulty with cases of COVID-19 receive the support they need. This is an important part of protecting all health and social care settings in our communities from COVID-19.”

Hickman added on the wider picture across North Wales, “As of today, we are caring for 128 patients with COVID-19 in our hospitals. Six of these are in critical care. This number fluctuates from day-to-day but, so far, we are seeing fewer seriously ill patients than we did in the first wave of the pandemic, partly because we have learned more about treatments since the first wave”