East Riding 'now living with coronavirus' with small rise expected
The County Council's public health director has been giving an update
A small rise in coronavirus cases is expected in the East Riding this month but the area is otherwise living with the illness, the council’s public health lead has said.
East Riding Council’s Public Health Director Andy Kingdom said the number of flu patients in Hull and East Riding hospitals had also dropped significantly, from December’s 176 to 10.
He added the coronavirus vaccination programme would also be scaled back to one jab a year mostly likely in Autumn, with more for the clinically vulnerable.
It comes as 110 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the East Riding in the seven days up to Saturday, February 4, up by 4 compared to the previous week.
In Hull, new cases rose by 50 to 120 during the same period, according to the latest Government figures.
The case rate in the East Riding rose from 30.9 to 32.1 per 100,000 people while in Hull it increased from 27 to 46.3.
The council’s Health, Care and Wellbeing Sub-Committee heard there were 35 coronavirus patients in Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital with three in intensive care on Monday (February 13).
Mr Kingdoms said the outlook for coronavirus was good given the more favourable conditions set to arrive with spring making it harder for coronavirus to spread.
The director said: “We had a big flu spike around Christmas but we’re not expecting a second one.
“Coronavirus is waves getting smaller, we’re probably going to have a bump in February.
“We’ve seen numbers including three patients in intensive care which is a bit more than usual but we’ve only had 10 flu patients, those numbers have dropped significantly.
“We’re living with coronavirus now because the vaccine’s protecting us, along with better hospital treatments.
“Infection numbers are not translating into people ending up in intensive care or unfortunately dying.
“We’re looking at expanding the vaccine offer for those who need it in the spring but that won’t involve the big population numbers we’ve seen in previous years.”