More Covid-19 patients in North Yorkshire hospitals than peak last year

There is now more people in North Yorkshire hospitals being treated for Covid-19 than there were in the peak last year.

Author: Karen LiuPublished 20th Jan 2021

There is now more people in North Yorkshire hospitals being treated for Covid-19 than there were in the peak last year.

There are 470 currently - up nearly 170 from the highest number in wave one of the virus.

At Scarborough Hospital there are 46 people being treated - that is up eight in the last seven days.

Dr Amanda Bloor, who is from North Yorkshire's Clinical Commissioning Group, said:

"All the hospitals have their full escalation plans in place, in terms of escalating how they operate to manage any increase in demand and those plans are in full swing now. So we would still urge everyone across North Yorkshire to stay home.

"Demand and increase in the numbers of Covid-positive patients has that direct impact on the availability of services for other people who may need them. It is imperative that we protect NHS services for everyone who may need them, whenever they may need them.

"The numbers of patients presenting into hospital lag for about 7 to 14 days, after the community prevalence starts to plateau and decline. So we potentially do have possibly a week or so where we may see numbers needing admission to hospital continuing to rise."

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