High Covid infection rate in area of Grantham
A part of Grantham has the highest Covid infection rate in the entire county – with a severely infected care home seen as the main cause.
Classed as ‘Grantham North West’ on a Government interactive map which displays weekly data, the area includes the town centre, Barrowby Road area, part of the Barrowby Gate estate and the new housing developments off Barrowby Road.
Map data shows there were 28 cases in the seven days up to January 1, and 86 in total. Its seven-day rolling rate was 907.9 per 100,000 people.
However, public health officials were quick to reassure residents.
Tony McGinty, Lincolnshire’s assistant director of public health, said: “We are carefully watching the rates in the whole of South Kesteven as they are running overall infection rates which are higher than the generally good comparative rates for Lincolnshire at the moment.
“We do not tend to look at the rates per 100,000 people in smaller area breakdowns as these can be pushed into large changes (up and down) by relatively small numbers of new individual cases.
“We do, however look at all new cases to see if there are patterns of concern, and for this area part of the problem is related to care homes.”
In comparison, there were 17 cases in ‘Grantham South West’ in the seven days up to January 1, 43 cases in total and a rolling rate of 563.1. ‘Grantham South East’ saw four cases in the same period, a total of 62 cases and a rate of 489.9, while there were three cases in the seven days in ‘Grantham North East’, a total of 32 cases and a rate of 322.4.
As a mutant strain of the virus is spreading like wildfire, the district of South Kesteven overtook the city of Lincoln to become the worst infected area of Lincolnshire this week, according to the Government’s Covid-19 dashboard.
In the week up to Wednesday afternoon, 589 new cases were recorded in South Kesteven, with a seven-day rolling infection rate of 413.6 per 100,000 people. This compares to 347 new cases in Lincoln and a rate of 349.4 per 100,000 people.
The district, however, remains below the national average of 579.8 per 100,000 people in England.
In the seven days up to Wednesday, 13 people in the district have died with Covid, taking the total number of deaths to 135. The total number of infections since the start of the pandemic now stands at 4,492.
County health bosses say they don’t know what has caused South Kesteven’s spike in Covid-19 infections, but say cases are increasing all over the East Midlands.
Mr McGinty said: “We are looking into possible causes of this rise in South Kesteven at the moment and have not yet identified any definitive reason for this rise.
“It is clear that cases are increasing all over the East Midlands again though, and higher figures in South Kesteven may be part of this overall rise.
“We are in close contact with South Kesteven District Council and any additional action needed to support local people will be put in place.”
SKDC reminded residents that its community hub is open to anyone who needs support or advice.
A council spokesperson said: “The SKDC Community Hub which has proved a lifeline for many throughout the pandemic remains open for anyone who needs support, while InvestSK is working to ensure businesses can access any Government grants they are entitled to.
“The risks posed by the new variant spreading a lot faster are significant for the whole country and they demand a national response to protect ourselves, our loved ones and the NHS, which is coming under increasing pressure.
“We have seen a recent spike in the infection rate for South Kesteven and are working with public health organisations to investigate possible reasons for this, and the lockdown will hopefully slow down or prevent further escalation, not just here but across the country.”
- The hub can be contacted at SKCommunityHub@southkesteven.gov.uk or on 01476 406177.
