Care home is behind spike in Covid cases

A COVID-19 outbreak at a care home has been revealed as the reason why one Hull suburb saw such a huge rise in cases.

The Bricknell East area of the city suffered 38 new cases in just one week up until December 31 with 67 cases in total.

The weekly rolling rate was even more alarming, which stood at 836.7 cases per 100,000 of the population. That figure has actually risen and the rate, up until January 1, stands at 849.2.

For context, most areas of Hull and the East Riding are see around 200 to 300 weekly cases per 100,000 of the population.

Councillor John Fareham has since asked Hull City Council why there has been such a rise.

He said: “I have been told the unusually high rate in Bricknell ward is associated with a care home outbreak, and the majority of cases in the ward are from this one care home.

“Looking at the rate of cases in the ward with the care home cases excluded, it remains above the Hull average but not alarmingly so.

“Because the population of Bricknell ward is comparatively low, each individual case will have a greater impact on the rate than in a more populous ward, so you will see ‘spikier’ changes to the rate because of this.”

During the pandemic, Public Health England (PHE) has produced a useful interactive map which displays data showing the rates of coronavirus infection in different areas.

The Bricknell East area takes in most of Bricknell Lane, the affluent Newland Park, Chanterlands Avenue up until the Bricknell Avenue roundabout and half of Goddard Avenue. The area also takes in a part of Hall Road and Hotham Road North.

The areas on the Public Health England map are not split into council wards but into Middle

Layer Super Output Areas

(MSOA), which are designed to improve the reporting of statistics in more localised areas.