New wave of coronavirus expected to hit the East Riding in coming weeks
The county's Public Health Director says the last vaccine dose is beginning to wane
A new wave of coronavirus is expected to hit the East Riding in the coming weeks as infections and outbreaks have begun to increase, councillors have heard.
East Riding Council’s Public Health Director Andy Kingdom told councillors more working age people were getting coronavirus as the effectiveness of their last vaccine dose begins to wane.
Mr Kingdom added hospital patient and death numbers were expected to rise by mid-July but the size of the wave would be smaller than previous ones.
It comes as the Health, Care and Wellbeing Sub-Committee heard there were concerns more working age people being infected could lead to greater staff absences, including in the health sector.
Councillors also heard the rate of infection in the East Riding is currently estimated at 2 per cent, or around 6,500 to 7,000 people.
Mr Kingdom said outbreaks had resumed in care homes, with 14 affected as of yesterday (Monday, June 13) compared to none a week ago.
He added that the East Riding would likely be one of the last to be hit by the new wave.
It follows a rise in infections which is already working its way across London, the South East and parts of Yorkshire and the Humber.
The director said: “The situation now is that we’re all standing in a sea of infections where coronavirus is one among many illnesses and diseases.
“Before the coronavirus waves knocked a lot of people over who we had to take out of that sea because our immune systems couldn’t cope with it.
“Now we have the vaccines and greater immunity but we’re still in that sea and we’ll still get waves, although coronavirus is just another virus now.
“We’re expecting more waves but they won’t be as big because of our levels of immunity.
“Infections are rising in working age groups because they had their third jabs in around November and December so the effectiveness is beginning to wane.
“Despite the increase in infections we’re not yet seeing cases translate into big hospital numbers, the amount of patients with coronavirus in our hospitals is in the 20s to 30s.
“But if more working age people are catching coronavirus it will mean less staff are able to work, including care staff.
“We’re expecting the number of cases to rise in the next couple of weeks but we won’t be seeing waves as big as those we’ve had before.
“We’re a lot better at spotting outbreaks where they do happen now, but people still need to take coronavirus seriously.
“There’s people who are still at risk from the virus, it hasn’t gone away and it never will.”