Rocketing covid consequences for Middlesbrough
A TEESSIDE health boss has warned rocketing covid rates are expected to bring a “rocky few weeks ahead”.
The rolling seven day covid rate soared to 950 cases per 100,000 people in Middlesbrough on Tuesday – the highest recorded in the town since the pandemic began.
South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust has confirmed 54 covid patients were being treated at its sites on Tuesday – 10 of whom were in critical care.
This is up from under 20 at the end of last month.
South Tees public health chief Mark Adams revealed 15 of the 54 were aged over 70 in a stark presentation to Middlesbrough’s health scrutiny panel.
He told councillors the authority had very few powers when it came to dealing with the rising cases – and the town ranked fifth highest in the nation for its rate at the moment.
Mr Adams said 20 to 39-year-olds in the borough were seeing the highest rates of around 1,600 per 100,000 people.
But he added that over 60s were being infected as well.
“The general feeling was with the vaccination rates as high as they are, that would be less likely to happen,” he said.
“It’s very clear they’re much less affected than other age groups – they’re around 200 per 100,000 – but there is still a group affected.”
The health chief told the panel covid patients in hospitals “weren’t exclusively young people” – nor were they “exclusively unvaccinated”.
“We know anecdotally there are people in hospital who’ve received both jabs,” added Mr Adams.
“The vaccine isn’t perfect – it significantly reduces risk but it doesn’t reduce it down to zero.
“There was a bit of dispute at the weekend about whether the link between community infection rates and hospitalisation was broken or diminished due to the vaccination programme.
“It’s definitely diminished but it’s definitely not broken.”
Friday marks the last day of summer term for most Middlesbrough schools.
But the panel also heard how covid had plagued attendance numbers in the town.
Mr Adams revealed there were 88 closed bubbles across 28 schools which had affected 124 staff and 2,165 children who were isolating.
He added: “The impact of high community rates is going to potentially impact front line services as a result of people isolating themselves as a case, or as a contact, or because they’re looking after school children who are isolating.”
Call troubles
Past worries had been shared about the number of over 50s who were unvaccinated in the town.
Councillors heard 56.8% of adults in the town had received both doses, but Mr Adams said the number of over 50s with no jab was only falling “very slowly”.
A total of 4,619 Middlesbrough folk aged over 50 have received no jab – with central and Newport wards having the highest numbers.
The health chief revealed efforts had been launched to try and ring these people – but dealing with the latest wave had diverted their attention.
“It’s very difficult for us to continue with those calls,” he added.
Mr Adams also gave councillors a run-down of SAGE advice about the wider pandemic ahead of Monday’s relaxation of regulations (July 19).
“The modelling is quite difficult but they expect extremely high prevalence of infection lasting until at least the end of August,” he added.
“There is high uncertainty around the scale of the peak and the number of confirmed cases.”
Long covid and risk of new variants emerging were also concerns, the health chief added.
Herd immunity?
Panellists were told stage four guidance from the government roadmap gave limited local action – but Mr Adams believed it wouldn’t be sufficient to affect the climbing rate.
He added: “It looks as if the intention is to have an immunity through infection for those who aren’t vaccinated and immunity through vaccination through those who are – and in that way establish a form of herd immunity.
“That’s not spoken policy – that’s just how it appears.”
The chamber also heard around 5,000 long covid cases had been modelled in Middlesbrough – which could range from lack of taste and smell, to not being able to get out of bed.
“It’s still emerging but I’m expecting that will become a significant issue as we move on,” added Mr Adams.
“The more people infected in the current wave, the more people are likely to get long covid which will affect their life.”
Very limited powers
The health boss was also grilled over what the council could do in response to the rising rates.
Cllr Alma Hellaoui, Labour member for Newport, labelled the upcoming guidance “ridiculous” given the rising number of cases.
She added: “Do we have to just follow this stupid guidance from the government? or is there any way we can get around it?”
But Mr Adams said they were “very limited” in what they could do locally.
And he rounded off saying he expected a “rocky few weeks” ahead.
Responding to hospital covid demands, a South Tees NHS spokesman said: “Although the number of people in hospital is much lower than we saw in the winter thanks to the success of the vaccination programme, the rates of infection in the community have meant we’ve seen a rise in patients needing covid care in recent weeks.
“That’s why it’s so important that people get double jabbed, stick to the rules around hospital visiting – which remains restricted – stay vigilant and exercise caution.”