Covid-19 update 19 March 2021

Gloucestershire County Council sent this bulletin at 19-03-2021 10:52 AM GMT

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Key messages

Covid hasn’t gone away and to help keep life moving, we all must play our part in keeping cases down.
Regular testing, alongside staying at home, following the rules of hands, face, space, ventilate, self-isolating and getting a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms remain crucial to keep reducing the rate of infection and protect one another.
A fourth asymptomatic testing site at the Link Youth Support Centre in Tewkesbury will open to the public on Wednesday 24 March.Testing at the site is for people who have no symptoms, but who still need to leave the house for essential reasons including for work or to care for others. A link to book a test can be found on the new and improved community testing pages of the GCC website.
Rapid, regular testing is now being offered the households, support and childcare bubbles of children in pre-school or nursery. This is in addition to households, support and childcare bubbles of school staff or school aged children.
In just 10 days, we will reach the next milestone in the Government's road-map, working towards a more normal way of life. From 29 March, people will be able to meet outdoors in groups of six, or two households together. Whilst this is great news for us all, we must not give up now. We will be launching a campaign next week called: "Keep going...It will be worth it" recognising everything we are looking forward to in the weeks to come, whilst remembering what we have to do to get there.
Rosebank Surgery in Gloucester featured on ITV West yesterday (17 March) to talk about the Gloucestershire vaccination programme. Volunteer Hash Norat, featured in the piece, has been trying to encourage more ethnic minority communities to get the jab when offered.
In collaboration with the Polish Association Gloucestershire, the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is hosting a virtual event to engage the Polish community in conversation relating to the COVID-19 vaccine. Facebook @polishglos live, Thursday 25 March, 6pm to 7.30pm.

Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) locations⁶:

Cinderford RFC, Dockham Rd, Cinderford GL14 2AQ (Monday-Tuesday)
Dursley Rugby Club, Hounds Green, Dursley GL11 6AJ (Monday-Tuesday)
Royal Agricultural University, Stroud Road, Cirencester, GL7 6JS (Monday-Friday)
North RFC, Stoke Orchard Road, Bishops Cleeve, GL52 7DG (Tuesday-Wednesday)
Stow RFC, Oddington Road, Stow on the Wold, GL54 1JJ (Wednesday-Thursday)
Car Park off Newerne Street, Lydney, GL15 5RA (Wednesday-Friday)
Sudeley Castle, Castle Street, Winchcombe, GL54 5JD (Thursday-Friday)
Car Park, Oldends Lane, Stonehouse, GL10 2DG (Friday-Sunday)
Hartpury University & Hartpury College, Gloucester, GL19 3BE (Saturday-Sunday)
University Of Gloucestershire, Entrance 3, Park Campus, The Park, Cheltenham, GL50 2RH (Saturday-Sunday)
Lower Lode Depot, Lower Lode Lane, Tewkesbury , GL20 5TT (Saturday-Monday)

Permanent Testing Site Locations

PCR Testing Sites

Gloucester RTS

Hempsted Meadows, David Hook Way, Gloucester, GL2 5LE

Cheltenham LTS

High Street Car Park, Cheltenham, GL50 4AL

Stroud LTS

Stratford Park Leisure Centre, Stratford Road, Stroud, GL5 4AF

You can book a test here for one of these sites if you have any COVID-19 symptoms.

Community Testing Sites (LFD)

Gloucester City

The Friendship Café @ Chequers, Painswick Road, Gloucester, GL4 6PR

Cirencester

Royal Agricultural University, Stroud Road, Cirencester,GL7 6JS

Forest of Dean

Miners Welfare Hall, Parragate Road,
Cinderford, GL14 2JN

You can book a test here for one of these sites if you do not have any COVID-19 symptoms.

National updates

Key links

National Guidance

General NHS advice

Latest advice and developments from Gloucestershire NHS

Gloucestershire's Community Help Hub

Council service updates

Make an adult social care referral

Business advice and support

Looking after your wellbeing

Support for children and families during Covid-19

19 March 2021

Gloucestershire Covid-19 stats

Link to graph showing daily cases by local authority (Please open in Google Chrome)

Cases

In week 11 (Monday 8th March – Sunday 14^thMarch) there were 133 confirmed cases of COVID19.

Of these cases:

38 were in Stroud
28 were in Gloucester
21 were in Cheltenham
17 were in Tewkesbury
16 were in Forest of Dean
13 were in Cotswold

*Please note these figures are provisional and subject to change. (Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ as at 16:00 17/03/2021)

The rate of cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 is 22.0 in Gloucestershire, 31.0 in the South West, and 57.7 in England.

Deaths mentioning COVID19

In week 9 (Saturday 27^th February– Friday 5th March) there were 9 deaths mentioning “novel coronavirus (COVID-19)”, which is 8.5% of all deaths, this compares with 12 (9.6% of all deaths) in Week 8

* Please note these figures are based on all deaths registered by the 13^th March, they are provisional and will be subject to change. They include deaths that make any mention of COVID-19 on the death certificate. (Source: Weekly provisional figures on deaths occurring and registered in England and Wales by Local Authority)

*Please note the dates above, the ONS weeks run from Saturday- Friday and we are unable to change this.

Deaths in NHS Trusts² - 609 (4 new)

Deaths in care homes⁴ - 405 (1 new)

Your questions answered

To make sure your questions get answered promptly by the team, please continue to send your questions directly to democratic.services@gloucestershire.gov.uk

¹ The above data reflects nationally published data available here.

² This section contains information on deaths of patients who have died in hospitals in Gloucestershire and had tested positive for Covid-19 at time of death or where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. All deaths are recorded against the date of death rather than the date the deaths were announced. It is based on national NHS data published here.

³ Weekly death figures provide provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales for which data are available. From 31 March 2020 these figures also show the number of deaths involving coronavirus (Covid-19), based on any mention of Covid-19 on the death certificate. Figures by place of death may differ to previously published figures due to improvements in the way we code place of death. This figure does not include deaths of those resident outside England and Wales or those records where the place of residence is either missing or not yet fully coded. For this reason counts may differ to published figures when summed. Bank Holidays could affect the number of registrations made within those weeks.

⁴ Care homes vary in size and in the characteristics of their residents. Outbreak data is also being reported publicly here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/covid-19-number-of-outbreaks-in-care-homes-management-information. The figures here are slightly lower than our local figures due to a time lag. The number of cases (confirmed or suspected) has not been reported due to limitations in data accuracy which means comparison is not possible. This information is being used for operational purposes. As testing in care homes increases we will review whether adding this information will add additional strategic insight.

⁵ CQC publish figures on deaths where Covid-19 was suspected in the notification from the care home, as well as all cause mortality (since 10 April 2020). It is probable that not all deaths due to Covid-19 will be notified as such, conversely Covid-19 may be mentioned but not have been a contributory factor in a death). While CQC numbers are more comprehensive than local reporting, they are not currently reported by district council.

⁶ Please note that there is a possibility of last minute changes if the MTU’s are diverted to assist with outbreak control both in this county or elsewhere.