Blogs > Occasional Coronavirus (COVID-19) update for Malvern SeniorsClick to read our observations on politics and world events 24th September 2023 COVID CASES RISING Cases of COVID fell rapidly during the spring and early summer but are now rising once again so we will keep an 'occasional' eye on the figures. COVID related deaths fell to just 65 per week in England and Wales towards the end of July but have risen to about 215 per week, while the Coronavirus dashboard suggests weekly hospital admissions in England have risen from 757 in July to 2,767 though now possibly levelling off. The rollout of COVID Autumn boosters has begun and shots can be booked on-line at Claremont Pharmacy in Barnards Green and Evans in Malvern Link. Those aged 65 years and over, and at risk groups are eligible. You may be offered annual Flu and COVID booster jabs at the same time at your GP surgery. Our surgery is currently making appointments for Flu jabs only, as delivery dates for the COVID booster are not yet known. We are hearing of cases amongst our friends in Malvern and while for most this may be no more than a cold, the unfortunate few can be very seriously affected, so it would be a good idea to get your booster and think about precautions. There is a new source of data for COVID and Flu metrics which is a development of the Coronavirus dashboard: Here you should find the principal figures at the touch of a button. PreambleThose wishing to monitor the figures will still find a summary of some data on the Coronavirus Dashboard which continues to be updated weekly at 4 pm on Thursdays. Following a summer break, fortnightly Independent SAGE briefings resumed on 8th September 2023. If you are familiar with Excel spreadsheets, NHS England hospital admissions and beds; and deaths reported by ONS continue to be a measure of COVID-19 in the UK. You will see this is a cut down version of our weekly reports during the height of the epidemic. ContentsSummaryThe incidence of COVID-19 which fell to a minimum in July 2023 has been rising. This may be due to waning immunity and mutating variants, but the symptoms are said to be no worse than from the earlier Omicron strain. Autumn Boosters for those aged 65+ wishing to top up their immunity should remain available until 23rd December 2023 but as time goes on you may have to travel further to find a clinic. If you catch COVID for a second or perhaps even a third time it is likely to be a mild illness, though you might feel quite poorly and be left feeling very tired. However the unlucky few might suffer breathing difficulties and become severely ill. (Definitions: mild = treatable at home; severe = treated in hospital). What happens if you get sick with COVIDIf you are feeling poorly it might not be COVID-19 but some other respiratory illness. Whatever the virus best stay at home until you feel better, and wear a face mask to protect others if you do have to go out. Nowadays, you probably won't know it's COVID and brush it off as just another cold. You now have to buy test kits. Pharmacies do not always have these and the results can be uncertain. Despite vaccination, some of those who have caught COVID report either getting easily tired or suffering from shortness of breath for some weeks afterwards; if so patients are advised to take it easy until fully recovered as there seems to be no 'one size fits all' treatment. A small number of patients (less than 10%) report debilitating symptoms for months after so-called recovery especially middle aged women. See Dez Medinger and Danny Altmann's book The Long COVID Handbook in bibliography. PrecautionsVaccination SitesAutumn boosters should be offered to those aged 65+ at GP surgeries between September and December 2023. Your GP surgery (or the NHS) should contact you possibly as part of the annual Flu campaign once vaccines become available. Malvern Health Centre was giving COVID boosters yesterday while New Court Surgery was giving flu shots. New Court Surgery anticipates COVID vaccine will arrive mid October. Alternatively you may be able to book an earlier appointment on-line for example at either Claremont Pharmacy in Barnards Green, Evans Pharmacy in Malvern Link or Upton Surgery at Tunnel Hill, Upton-upon-Severn. Click to book, cancel or change a COVID-19 vaccination appointment You are unlikely to find a walk in clinic in Malvern (but note jabs have in the past been offered at Claremont Pharmacy). Number of casesThere seems to be little testing going on these days, so the main indicators of COVID are hospital admissions, hospital beds and deaths. The Zoe Health Study continues to publish estimates of cases based on reports from the public; though with dwindling reports this source of data could possibly soon dry up. Zoe Health StudyThe ZOE Health Study estimates are shown in the following table.
Prevalence of COVID-19 in UK estimated by the Zoe Health Study using data to 11th September 2023. Hospital admissions suggest daily cases may have levelled off in the last week. The numbers suggest that roughly 1 in 50 people are currently suffering from COVID; we are aware of cases amongst our acquaintances. Number of deathsONS figuresThe Office of National Statistics (ONS) reports registered deaths in England and Wales where COVID-19 is mentioned somewhere on the death certificate. The ONS figures lag real time by 10 - 14 days due to the administrative delay in submitting and processing reports, and do not include Northern Ireland and Scotland. Note: the figures include cases where COVID may have been a secondary cause of death. Click for ONS data on deaths (Excel spreadsheet) ONS figures for Worcestershire by date reportedThe ONS figures can be filtered by Local Authority providing a glimpse of where deaths are occurring. The provisional cumulative total of COVID related deaths in Worcestershire reported by the ONS on 19th September (week 36 of 2023) is shown in the table below. Note: these numbers are derived from Table 1 of the ONS Death Registrations spreadsheet using the in-built filters. This gives the provisional total of deaths registered in any week, which can be distorted by delayed reporting, for example, due to public holidays. Deaths by Welsh Health Boards are excluded to avoid duplication as these are totals of Local authorities.
Provisional cumulative COVID-19 deaths in Worcestershire registered by ONS reported on 19th September 2023.
ONS figures for England and Wales by date reportedIn England and Wales 215 COVID-19 related deaths were reported in week 36.
ONS provisional deaths 'by week reported' in England and Wales since the start of 2022 (so week 53 is week 1 of 2023) Averaged over recent years roughly 11,900 people die weekly from all causes in the UK so currently COVID deaths are about 2% of all deaths. Risk of COVID-19 death by age bandNHS England provides an analysis of COVID-19 deaths in hospital in England and Wales by age band. Shown below is a snapshot of 2,898 deaths for the period 6th May 2022 to 6th July 2022 when most of these deaths will have been from the Omicron variants.
Relative risk of COVID-19 death by age band May - July 2022 The main point to note is those aged 60+ account for 93% of deaths despite young people being more likely to catch COVID-19. The risk profile for Omicron appears to be the same as for Delta. Age is still the greatest risk factor; perhaps reflecting that older people have more health problems. According to the Coronavirus Dashboard sex is an additional risk factor - males are roughly 50% more likely to die than women; possibly because women have a stronger immune system. Healthcare numbersBed numbers by region in EnglandTabulated figures for COVID bed occupancy in England can be found on the NHS England website providing another indicator of the prevalence of COVID. Click for NHS England COVID-19 Hospital bed Activity statistics Note: see the latest Daily Admissions and Beds spreadsheets, then look for all COVID beds.
Comparison of All beds COVID data for England, London and Midlands In the last week bed numbers in England have roughly flat-lined. For comparison, the number of beds occupied during the peak of the epidemic in January 2021 is shown in red in the right hand column of the table. Also see charts on the Coronavirus Dashboard Worcestershire hospital bedsClick for Summary of Malvern numbers on the Coronavirus dashboard The Worcestershire Coronavirus dashboard appears to have been retired. Forecast for the week aheadBecause daily cases may be levelling off no great change is expected during the next week or so. Longer term outlookNew daily cases of COVID-19 could yet rise further with hospital bed occupancy possibly falling in the range 3,000 to 5,000 in England by Christmas. What happens with regard to deaths will largely depend on the take-up of Autumn boosters by the elderly. In the worst case COVID deaths in England could possibly rise towards 400 per week between now and Christmas, but that would be only 3% of all deaths and few are likely to worry about that. Advice for SeniorsApart from the Autumn booster programme, the government seems to have largely washed its hands of COVID considering to be just one of many viruses in circulation. We have little feel for the benefits of booster vaccinations and the health risks posed by the latest variants in circulation so can only offer observations. The risk of exposure to COVID-19 is likely quite high in Malvern at present, but there is no evidence that COVID is currently causing alarming numbers of people in Worcestershire to fall severely ill; so for most, the risk might perhaps be considered LOW. Consequently our riskometer currently remains at LOW (see opposite). Many, perhaps most, healthy people seem to be taking the view that COVID is no longer a critical threat to their health. For the more cautious the simple safeguards to protect against all respiratory infections have been to:
Notes: 1) Wash your hands thoroughly before touching your face to avoid transferring virus from contaminated surfaces to your mouth, eyes and nose. If outdoors, for example filling the car up with fuel, either wash hands with an alcohol based hand gel after touching suspect surfaces or wear gloves. 2) Two metres is further than you think - roughly an arm and a walking stick away. 3) If you are 'clinically vulnerable' consult your GP or specialist; you may need to take a test and consider anti viral drugs if testing positive. AnnexCommentaryAfter rising a little COVID cases could be levelling off this week, but don't be fooled, the incidence of COVID is still high and that healthy looking person you are talking to could give it to you. We don't know how effective the booster vaccines are but it might be a good idea to get your Autumn booster especially if you missed the Spring booster. If you reacted badly to getting the Flu and COVID boosters at the same time last year you might want to consider getting them a couple of weeks apart. Independent SAGEThe next Independent SAGE fortnightly update is expected on 6th October 2023. You can watch the last briefing by clicking the link below. Click to watch Independent SAGE update on 22nd September 2023 This was a discussion on the resilience of healthcare systems, with guests Prof John Drury, Prof Steve Thomas and Dr Anna Sagan. Hosted by Prof Anthony Costello and Dr Steve Griffin; Dr Kit Yates on data trends and situation update. Independent SAGE wonder if the monitoring of daily cases by the Zoe app is petering out. Remaining metrics are hospital admissions and deaths. It is rumoured an updated XBB1.5 vaccine may soon be offered in Scotland. However, Independent SAGE recommends getting your COVID booster as soon as it becomes available taking whatever vaccine is offered. List of vaccinesSection deleted. Refer to archived pages for historical information about vaccines. Summary of LinksSome of this information is now out of date but provides a historical context to the epidemic. Information about Coronavirus can be found on the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirus
SymptomsNote: the list of symptoms was updated on 1st April 2022 Article about the effects of Wuhan Coronavirus on the human body
Reporting and how to obtain a testHow to get a test https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirus About joining the Zoe COVID Symptom Study:
GuidanceUK government Coronavirus guidance See also - government sets out next steps for living with COVID COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021 for England UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) website
COVID Alert statesGuidance on UK COVID-19 alert level methodology: an overview COVID-19 Alert Level lowered to 3 on 10th May 2021
TiersGuidance on tiers: what you need to know Government postcode checker to find tier for other areas
StatisticsThe UKHSA data dashboard (new source of data on COVID and Flu) UK government COVID-19: Omicron daily overview UK government Coronavirus Dashboard Coronavirus Dashboard Interactive Map ONS data on deaths in England and Wales (Excel spreadsheet) NHS England COVID-19 Daily Deaths NHS England COVID-19 Hospital Admissions NHS England vaccination statistics Worcestershire Coronavirus Dashboard Worcestershire COVID-19 Vaccinations Dashboard
HSA COVID-19 vaccine weekly surveillance reports Information about NHS hospital bed numbers: past, present, future
A glimpse of the worldwide vaccination situation can be found on the Our World in Data website. Click for chart showing % vaccinated
A video with Dr John Campbell and mathematician Professor Fenton explaining the various ways in which RISK can be specified. Risks and benefits with Professor Fenton
ModellingA forecast of the progression of the COVID-19 epidemic can be found on a University College London (UCL) website. Click for UCL Long-term forecasting of the COVID-19 epidemic A projection of the future COVID-19 death toll and daily deaths can be found on The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation website. Click for IHME projection of COVID-19 deaths
ReportsCoronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights by ONS A live roundup of the latest data and trends about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the ONS and other sources. MedRxiv is a US preprint server for Health Sciences. A depository for reports which have still to be peer reviewed. COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19 NICE guidance on managing Long COVID
The bigger pictureWorldometer summary of coronavirus cases worldwide European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control info https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases World Health Organisation info
Window on the USACentre for Disease Control (CDC) Find maps and charts tracking cases, deaths, and trends of COVID-19 in the United States. American Association of Retired People (AARP)
WorcestershireA local summary of COVID data can be found on the Worcestershire Coronavirus Dashboard. Note 1: use the arrow <> buttons at the bottom of the Dashboard screen to move between pages. Note 2: the figures for COVID cases are becoming meaningless as testing is run down. Note 3: deaths are on page 7, and hospital beds on page 9. Click for Worcestershire County Council COVID-19 news There is a colourful webpage offering advice on learning to live with COVID for those aged under 30 years. 'Rona' is slang for Coronavirus. Click for The Worcestershire 'Rona' Hub Click for Simple Summary of Malvern numbers on the Coronavirus dashboard
MiscellaneousSpanish Flu Dr Jeff Kildea's commentary about the 1919 outbreak of Spanish Flu in Australia
Views of Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health Follow Martin McKee on Twitter Views of Prof Christina Pagel, a member of Independent SAGE Follow Christina Pagel on Twitter
SAGE membership Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE)
Scottish government: Link to Scottish Government website Link to Postcode checker for COVID restrictions by protection level in areas of Scotland
Welsh Government: Guidance on COVID alert levels in Wales
BibliographyWoolhouse, Professor Mark, The Year the World went Mad, published 2022 by Sandstone Press Ltd, ISBN: 978-1-913207-94-3 Medinger Dez, Altmann Danny, The Long Covid Handbook, Penguin Books, 2022. Kindle version available.
The interpretations and opinions expressed are our own |
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Last updated 26th September 2023 |