‘The virus continues to be very real’ – alarm as city hit by third-worst wave
Analysis of the latest coronavirus infection data suggests youngsters could be passing covid to their parents, writes Phil Corrigan, as schoolchildren and 40-somethings drive surge in Stoke-on-trent...
COVID-19 rates are continuing to rise in Stoke-on-trent – with school-age children and adults in their early 40s now driving the surge.
The Potteries currently has a sevenday infection rate of 509.3 cases per 100,000 people, up from 368.6 a week ago, meaning the city is now seeing its third-worst wave of the virus.
Children aged 10 to 14 are still the most likely to be infected, with the case rate within this age group rising to an all-time high of 1,811.7 per 100,000.
But the figures also show that there is a second peak of infections among the 40-to-44 age group, which has a case rate of 778.1 per 100,000.
This could possibly be due to children getting infected in school following the end of the summer holidays and then passing the virus onto their parents.
Covid cases are even higher in Newcastle, with the borough’s infection rate now standing at 561.7 per 100,000. In the Staffordshire Moorlands, the weekly rate is 583.2 cases per 100,000.
Across North Staffordshire, the neighbourhoods with the highest rates are currently Bradwell (900), Great Chell and Packmoor (838.2), Leek East and Upper Hulme (839.7) and Ipstones, Warslow and Hamps Valley (1,073.3).
Testing in the city remains high, with 11,905 PCR tests carried out over the most revent seven-day period.
But the city’s positivity rate – the percentage of tests which come back positive – has risen to 10.6 per cent, higher than health officials want.
Stoke-on-trent City Council leader Abi Brown noted the rising infection rates in her Covid-19 update to cabinet members, and urged residents to take ‘individual and collective responsibility’.
She said: “Many of us will know someone with coronavirus. The virus continues to be very real. The measures that helped to protect us last year are the same ones that will protect us this year.
“Booster vaccinations are being rolled out across the city and the vaccine roll-out continues for children aged 12 to 15. This is going hand-in-hand with getting the flu jab.
“Please do sign up to get your flu jab, I’ll be getting mine on Saturday.
“We continue to have pop-up test sites across the city and teams going door-to-door in areas where the virus is at its highest.
“As we move towards winter it’s even more imperative that we do everything we can to drive down the virus for all of us.
“Let’s take individual and collective responsibility for what we can influence and not let the virus escalate further in our city.”
The latest figures from the University Hospitals of North Midlands show that the number of covid-positive patients at the trust has risen to
76, including 13 in mechanical ventilation beds, as of October 5.
Over the past four weeks there have been 49 deaths involving Covid-19 across North Staffordshire, according to the Office for National Statistics.
This total includes 30 deaths in Stoke-on-trent, 10 in Newcastle and nine in the Moorlands.