Forum Topic

LB Hounslow - highest London Boroughs Covid infection rate

"Hounslow has the highest rate on 127.1, followed by Ealing 126.1 and Hillingdon on 100.7."Wonder why that is ? We all need to do our part in minimising risk of transmission, and sorry to say the wonderful planned markets should be delayed until the covid rate is significantly reduced.

Loraine Pemberton ● 2065d17 Comments

Hounslow may have a high rate but Chiswick's is relatively low despite having open air markets. See the article on the front page currently for the numbers. Food markets are allowed under the current rules so I can see no reason why this should change particularly since the numbers are going in the right direction. 'Non-essential' markets such as the Flower Market will be allowed at some point under the new roadmap - don't ask me when. Once again, no sound reason presents itself to override this policy.

Francis Rowe ● 2065d

Francis, maybe I'm being extra cautious regarding markets going ahead. When it's safe to do I will be attending them.But more importantly I really want to visit my 94 year old Mother who lives in the Cotswolds who I last saw late February  2020, because I've obeyed the law and guidelines. It's ironic though that 1,000's of people can meet in a small area, but I've been unable to see my aged Mother, a situation that is probably resonant with many, many people.The other point I'd like to make is that all of Chiswicks food retailers are open so plenty of food availability, and who carefully count and restrict numbers into their premises, will the Food market do the same ?

Loraine Pemberton ● 2065d

7 million people living in areas with ‘negligible’ cases. “areas reporting between zero and two cases are marked by NHS England as “suppressed”, meaning the true number of positive tests is withheld. Official guidance states this is to prevent the small number of infected people from being publicly shamed due to their “rarity or uniqueness”.”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/01/seven-million-people-uk-living-areas-negligible-covid-cases/

Russell Pearson ● 2065d

Well done Hounslow getting it down to just 0.127% of its  population in a borough where all the vulnerable will have been offered a vaccine meaning protection against serious effects for those sensible enough to take up the offer .... probably about time to open up and let the economy breath and recover no?

Mark Talbot ● 2065d

"well done Hounslow getting it down to just 0.127% "This Council is a disgrace for having allowed Hounslow, along with Ealing, to the worst infected. And Lewisham one of the best for tackling Covid!  What has happened to allow Hounslow to go so low as to become the worst Borough.

Steve Taylor ● 2064d

It’s not, it’s over, open up and live, life’s not a dress rehearsal.

Mark Talbot ● 2064d

Statistics, Statistics..Confused.com.Flu and Pneumonia Mortality: Number of deaths per 100,000 for people aged 65 and over from Influenza and Pneumonias (2018 and 2019) for EnglandPeriod Deaths per 100,000 for people aged 65+ from Influenza and PneumoniasPer 100,000 peopleEngland Minimum for England Mean for England Maximum for England2018 247.13 247.13 247.13 247.132019 217.01 217.01 217.01 217.01https://lginform.local.gov.uk/reports/lgastandard?mod-metric=10875&mod-period=2&mod-area=E92000001&mod-group=CIPFA_Near_Neighbours&mod-type=comparisonGroupType

Ben Gemmingen ● 2064d

'This Council is a disgrace for having allowed Hounslow, along with Ealing, to (be) the worst infected.'How do you perceive Hounslow as having 'allowed' this to happen? What do you think the council is doing, or not doing, to cause this?

Susan Kelly ● 2063d

Good grief. Where do we start. Having more enforcement officers. Stopping gatherings in parks, stopping mass gatherings in houses, questioning people driving around, fining shops for allowing shoppers without masks, stopping jogging on footpaths,  stopping farmers markets and flower markets. The basic instruction to STAY HOME is being ignored so the Council should be working with the police to enforce this. Stop and Question would be a good start. A 24 hour phone line to report law breakers would help. The Chief Executive and Leader of the Council and Mayor of Hounslow should be following the lead of successful countries in eradicating the virus. Instead they seem to be content to sit back and rely only on the NHS administering the vaccine. Our Councillors spent hours debating their pay rises during the farcical budget meeting this week but nothing was mentioned about increasing funds to enforce reducing the pandemic.  Instead they leave the perpetrators to continue to spread the virus by not following government rules.  This Council is incapable of effective Leadership because it is too scared of upsetting its supporters. 

Steve Taylor ● 2063d

"This Council is a disgrace for having allowed Hounslow, along with Ealing, to [be] the worst infected."Rather than picking on a single week's figure, shouldn't you take a wider look at Hounslow's trend? On 4 January, the 7-day average in Hounslow was 473 new Covid cases per day.  On 4 February, the average had reduced to 141 per day.On 28 February*, the average had reduced to 34 per day.Shouldn't you be praising Hounslow for this dramatic improvement?* [the latest date for which complete stats are available]

Richard Jennings ● 2063d

Don't be silly Richard that doesn't suit his narrative.

Mark Talbot ● 2063d

“ Shouldn't you be praising Hounslow for this dramatic improvement?”Not if you compare apples with apples!  All Boroughs (as far as I know) have improved since 7 January.  That doesn’t alter the fact that Hounslow is STILL the worst. They haven’t done anything special to try reduce it more.  It’s not about anyone’s  “narrative”. That is just a stupid / ignorant comment. It’s about the FACT that Hounslow is the worst affected in London.

Steve Taylor ● 2063d

"It’s about the FACT that Hounslow is the worst affected in London."But that's not true now.  Hounslow is no longer the worst in London. Its rate of new cases has dropped by 24% in the last 3 days.  There are 65 local authorities across the country that have higher rates.

Richard Jennings ● 2063d

Is that now the case?https://coronalevel.com/United_Kingdom/England/London/Hounslow/

Russell Pearson ● 2063d

Russell, that link leads to a set of cumulative totals, whereas the infection rate is based around weekly new cases.  If you click on "Daily cases" and "Use 7-day average", you get similar (but curiously not identical) figures to the ones on gov.uk that I was using.  The most recent few days should be ignored, as it takes several days for all the positive tests to be reported.

Richard Jennings ● 2063d

I wondered about that, hence the question. So is one method preferable over the other to get a better picture?

Russell Pearson ● 2063d

The cumulative totals don't tell you much about the current situation.  In the UK we don't seem to have a clear view on when a patient has recovered, especially if they are recovering at home, so any stats about the number of currently active cases are based on estimates.The important measures that tell us what is happening with the pandemic are:- new cases per day (positive tests) which indicates whether the infections are growing or declining;- new admissions to hospital, which are a measure of how serious the infections are as well as their quantity;- current number of Covid patients in hospital, which is important for reviewing hospital capacity;- deaths per day (defined as deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test).At least, those are the ones that I've been following, in conjunction with a friend with a public health background.

Richard Jennings ● 2063d