Health boss: East Riding 'living with not without coronavirus'
Andy Kingdom says true case rate is likely around one in 15 people
The coronavirus situation in the East Riding is improving but the area is living with not without it, the Council’s public health lead has said.
East Riding Council’s Public Health Director Andy Kingdom said coronavirus positive test figures were understating the situation, with the true case rate likely around one in 15 people.
The director added the corresponding percentage of 6.2 to 7 per cent was higher than the 0.2 per cent a year ago though vaccines were stopping most becoming seriously ill.
It comes as the East Riding coronavirus infection rate was 311.8 cases per 100,000 people on Wednesday, April 20, with 1,070 cases recorded in the week up to that date.
Those figures were down from the 430.9 and 1,479 respectively recorded the previous week.
Mr Kingdom said that while the threat posed by coronavirus to those who have had three vaccine doses was generally low, the unvaccinated and clinically vulnerable were still at risk.
He added current infection levels and the number of people in hospital with coronavirus as a result meant delays in the NHS clearing treatment backlogs in hospitals.
Mr Kingdom also said he was concerned by recent studies which suggested that around half of people testing positive for coronavirus were still going to work.
The director said: “We’ve taken away the control measures which were damaging society but the price of that is the level of community infections we have now.
“The way to think of it is that when we eased restrictions before people had their vaccines, it was like we were driving around without a seat belt, brakes or an airbag.
“The vaccine rollout and the advances in treating coronavirus we’ve had since were like us getting those safety measures which we’re driving around with now, but even with them there’s still a risk, it’s just lower.
“Living with coronavirus has consequences, not only for the vulnerable but also for those who catch it and then can’t work, teach or care for people.
“Hospitals and care homes are still under pressure because of staff having to isolate, care homes in particular.
“And it came when recently there was around 240 to 260 patients with coronavirus in hospital at a time.
“All that pressure has been difficult, it’s meant that hospitals haven’t been able to get on with treating people who’ve been waiting for months for treatment.
“But the numbers do seem to have topped out now, looking at the national picture it seems they’ve peaked.
“The pressure on the system needs to be switched off, though the amount of people in intensive care is very low now, it’s nowhere near what it was last year.
“We need the rates to come down further and it will be easier for us to do that here than elsewhere because we’ve managed to protect ourselves locally for so long.
“We’ll also have a spring booster rollout campaign coming for those who need it most, there will probably be a further rollout around September.
“People are still trickling in to get their first and second vaccines, I’d say anyone who doesn’t have it now really needs to get it unless they can’t for medical reasons because we’ve got such high levels of infections.
“Overall I’m hoping things will be better in May but we need to bring those rates of infections down.”