Borough’s year of Covid
As Halton prepares to mark the grim anniversary of the first Covid-19 case to be recorded in the borough, OLIVER CLAY looks back on a year which has changed everyone’s lives due to a pandemic which will continue to impact our futures for some time to come HIS Saturday marks a year brutal reality of the disease, and a since the first Covid-19 cases month later Joselito Habab, a were recorded in Halton. “remarkable” trauma nurse at Warrington Since then the pandemic has and Halton Hospitals Trust, affected nearly every aspect of life in died after contracting the virus. the borough, from business and They were far from alone though schools closing to homeworking, and some residents reported that masks, hand sanitiser and public their own loved ones had also succumbed health warnings, doorstep clapping, to the infection. daily briefings, the eventual openings The first lockdown worked and of test stations, residents rallying quashed cases enough for a semblance to help and feed the vulnerable, of normality to return, only to lives lost and families parted for cases to start climbing in September before their time. then surge in December into
The mortality figures inevitably January, with 21 Halton lives claimed mask the human cost, but remain during the worst week at the start of vital in gauging the impact of the 2021. pandemic and the effectiveness of In terms of the economic impact, the national response. the long-term effects remain to be
Between the first infections being seen, but unemployment nearly recorded and up to March 6, there doubled amid the worst of the fallout. had been 290 people from Halton who died and whose deaths involved Whereas 3,100 Halton residents Covid-19. This represents about 18% were claiming out-of-work benefits of the lives lost in the last year from in January 2020, this had soared to all causes. 6,030 by May, before recovering
The first wave of infections arrived somewhat and falling back to 5,355 in Halton in mid March when three as of January 2021. cases were recorded on March 13, As of March 10, 2021, about one in 2020. A month later, the outbreak 11 residents has tested positive for was peaking, with 31 Halton residents Covid-19 since the pandemic began, dying of Covid recorded in one totalling 11,671 people who have week alone. had the infection.
Emma Clarke, 35, a “brilliant and Hopes now rest with the vaccination gifted” teacher at Ormiston Bolingbroke effort, which has seen an intense Academy in Runcorn , was effort deliver a first dose to 41,455 among those to die in early April and residents by March 4, or about a whose passing brought home the third of the population.
TOnly 2,078 of those, however, have had a second dose, representing a greater level of immunity. As the borough stirs slowly from the latest lockdown and restrictions begin to cautiously lift, many will be looking to June 21 for relief, the date when the Government hopes all legal limits on social contact can be removed, nightclubs can open and large events could be allowed to go ahead again.
More limited easing is due to take place in April and May.
But this is tempered by the virus’s capacity for unpredictability and to surge, including a warning from England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, who warned things “could turn bad very fast” if lockdown lifts too fast.
A year on from those first infections of March 13, the virus has wrought a terrible toll in terms of health, death, the economy, uncertainty and lost social contact.
So there will no doubt be celebrations tainted by loss when lockdown ends, but as another year hurtles past, the challenges for Halton are far from over.
Halton covers the towns of Runcorn and Widnes, Cheshire, and some surrounding villages.
Please don’t hesitate to share your own experiences of life during the pandemic and how it’s affected you with oliver.clay@reachplc.com