As the high street begins to further open this week, Wiltshire’s public health boss has cautioned residents to still stick to the Covid-19 guidance – as five more people have died as a result of the virus.
In Wiltshire, as of 4pm Monday, April 12, a total of 84 new coronavirus cases were recorded.
This compares to 108 the week prior and means the seven-day case rate in Wiltshire per 100,000 people stands at 16.8 – far below the England average of 28.1.
Graph showing seven-day case rates in Wiltshire
It is also important to note, that from Friday, April 9 there has been a change in how cases are reported.
Cases identified through a positive lateral flow test will be removed if people then have a negative PCR test within three days of the rapid test.
Cases such as this have been removed from the total cases since the pandemic began, which reduced the total number of cases in Wiltshire by 53.
This week has also seen England move into step two of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
Kate Blackburn Picture by Alice Smith
Wiltshire's public health boss, Kate Blackburn said that although there might be an increase in cases because more people will meet each other, she believes the situation will be manageable.
“All the measures are in place, we just need people to adhere to them as much as possible,” she said.
“All indications from the government, at the moment, show that they are confident that come June 21 a lot of the restrictions will be lifted.
“But to reach that point we all need to stay vigilant and not get too complacent at the moment.”
➡️ 84 cases in the last 7 days
— Wiltshire Council #WiltshireTogether (@wiltscouncil) April 13, 2021
➡️ 16.8 cases per 100k people in last 7 days
➡️ 21 cases per 100k people in previous 7 days
➡️ 28.1 cases per 100k people in England in last 7 days
Case numbers have dropped again in the last week, thanks for playing your part.#WiltshireTogether pic.twitter.com/ALDbhLivS2
Deaths
Up to March 26 in Wiltshire, there have been 838 deaths with Covid-19 included on the death certificate.
This means a further five people have died as a result of the virus from last week’s figures.
The mortality rate in Wiltshire now stands at 167.6 per 100,000. A figure below the national average of 227.9.
Case rates by age
Below is a list of the case rates for young people age in Wiltshire:
Children aged 0-4: 0
Children aged 5-9: 32
Children aged 10-14: 42.3
Those aged 15-19: 44.4
Kate Blackburn, public health director for Wiltshire, said it was expected that the 15 to 19 age group would have the highest case rates, as they are more regularly tested.
Care Homes
Mrs Blackburn said she was pleased to announce that no care homes in Wiltshire had reported new cases among staff or residents.
This compared to seven new cases and 12 cases in the previous two weeks of reporting.
The last time there were zero new Covid cases in Wiltshire care homes was at the beginning of the pandemic.
Over this same week, there have been no reports of care home outbreaks, and there has been an overall reduction in the number of care home outbreaks across the south-west.
However, Mrs Blackburn added that care home resident had died due to the virus over the period.
Additionally, it is now allowed for care home residents to receive two named visitors which the public health boss described as a “huge comfort to lots of people”.
Businesses
Mrs Blackburn acknowledged that the past year has hit local businesses hard, and pointed to Wiltshire Council’s business directory as a source for all who need support or advice.
Covid Test Sites
Three rapid test collection sites have been established in Wiltshire, at the Leisure Centre in Devizes – which also continues to offer in-person asymptomatic testing – Monkton Park in Chippenham and Bourne Hill in Salisbury.
Tomorrow (April 14), Wiltshire Council will be setting up four more test collection locations at Springfield Community Campus in Corsham, Calne Leisure Centre, the Veil Community Campus in Pewsey and the Nadder Centre in Tisbury.
Towards the end of the month, the local authority hopes to open more of these sites to bring the total to 10.
The rapid testing sites were, earlier this month, replaced by test collection sites with the exception of Devizes.
READ MORE: Wiltshire Covid community testing sites to be replaced
More details to follow.
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