Fewer cases of Covid by the seaside

SEASIDE towns continue to experience lower rates of coronavirus, despite tourists flocking to the beaches over summer. During the height of the season there were concerns that people travelling to the seaside from elsewhere in the country would lead to a spike in cases, particularly among the local population.

However, new figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that the rate of coronavirus deaths remains lower in seaside towns - those with a beach and visitor attractions - than it does in their inland counterparts.

Up to September 18, there had been 57 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people living in small seaside towns, and 63 per 100,000 in larger seaside towns.

That compares to 84 deaths for every 100,000 people living in smaller non-coastal towns, and 102 per 100,000 in larger non-coastal towns.

The figure for other coastal towns - those without beachers or visitor attractions, that are focused on other activities such as being a port town or industrial town - vary by size.

Smaller coastal towns have the lowest rate of deaths of all, at 53 for every 100,000 residents, while larger coastal towns have seen 100 for every 100,000 people.

Small towns are defined as those with a population of between 5,000 and 20,000 people, while large towns are those that are home to more than 20,000 people.

The low rate of Covid-19 deaths in seaside towns comes despite an influx of visitors in the summer months - particularly in June and August.

Experimental figures, based on Facebook app (with location enabled) data, shows that on Saturdays between July 11 and 29 August, the population density in larger seaside towns increased by between 1.2% and 5.2% - with the busiest weekend falling on August 1.

There was a dip in visits to smaller seaside towns on July 11, but from July 18 onwards the population density also increased between 1.4% and 4.2%, with August 29 the busiest Saturday.

Those increases continued into autumn, with population density in large seaside towns still up by 1.5% on normal levels on September 26, and up by 3.4% in smaller seaside towns.

The low rate of deaths in seaside towns seems counterintuitive, as age is one of the main risk factors of coronavirus - and these towns tend to have older populations.

However, scientists believe that this may be because older people are less likely to find themselves in large groups.

Dr Konstantin Blyuss, a Reader in Mathematics at the University of Sussex, said: “With coastal towns having, on average, older population, who may not be doing so much commuting, combined with a smaller proportion of younger people, who are generally socialising more, this all results in reducing levels of people mixing for extended periods of times in close proximity of each other.”