Data update reveals more Covid cases in Blackpool - but overall picture is positive, says public health boss

However, the town’s public health boss has moved to reassure residents that the sudden change in the stats is the result of a shift in how cases are reported nationally – and Blackpool is still “heading in the right direction”.

Public Health England (PHE) has now published the results of Covid tests carried out in the community – either via drive-through and mobile testing units or home swab kits – known as ‘pillar 2’ data.

Since the start of the pandemic, only ‘pillar 1’ test results – conducted on those with a clinical need and on health and care staff – have been made public.

The updated data reveals that an additional 328 people in Blackpool have tested positive, pushing the total of known coronavirus cases since the outbreak began to 1,012.

Dr. Arif Rajpura, Blackpool Council’s director of public health, welcomed the “fuller picture” provided by the new figures – and said that it highlighted the town’s progress in combating Covid-19

“Even when we add the pillar 1 and pillar 2 data together, it doesn’t change the shape of the [infection] curve – that is still coming down and we’ve got a positive trend,” he explained.

“Over the last two weeks, we’ve had very small numbers of cases being reported on a daily basis, which is reflected in our hospital figures – we’ve got few patients in hospital with a Covid-19 diagnosis.

“We have also seen no deaths reported in the last few days, so the general trend is absolutely in the right direction.”

The new figures also contain details of recent changes in the weekly case rate – the number of people testing positive for every 100,000 residents.

Blackpool’s performance on that measure showed a slight increase between the week to 24th June and the seven days to 30th June – from 10.8 to 13.6 cases per 100,000 people. However, Dr. Rajpura warned that fluctuations in already “small numbers” result in misleading percentage jumps – in this case, 26 percent.

“I’d be concerned if there was a massive rise, [which suggested] an outbreak either in a care home or the community – but we’re not seeing that at this moment in time.”

His immediate focus is on encouraging people planning to make use of their “new-found freedoms” this weekend – when the town’s hospitality sector reopens – to do so safely.

“It adds another level of risk, so we need to tread very carefully in this next phase.

“We cannot become complacent – we need to make sure that we’re all still following the guidance around social distancing and washing our hands, as those things are more important now as we start to lift some of the restrictions and get more mixing of populations.

“I don’t want us to risk everything – we’ve done a lot of hard work to get to this point and we’ve not experienced the level of deaths similar areas to ours have.

“Usually, you see more deprived local authorities suffering with higher levels of Covid-related deaths, – every death is tragic, but we’ve actually bucked that trend and are below the North West average and closer to the England average,” Dr. Rajpura said.

As of 2nd July, a total of 232 people have died with Covid-19 at the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals trust.

Across the Lancashire County Council area, which includes Fylde and Wyre, the refreshed data shows an additional 2,739 cases since the start of the pandemic – with the overall total now standing at 6,596.

The Covid case rate in County Hall’s patch halved between the week ending 24th June and the week to 30th June – down from 15.0 to 7.4.

That puts Lancashire in the second to lowest bracket on the PHE ‘heat map’ of coronavirus case rates – whereas at the end of May it was amongst the worst affected areas in England.

Dr. Sakthi Karunanithi, the county council’s director of public health, said: “We knew all along that pillar 1 test results were just the tip of the iceberg.

“We have a dynamic intelligence framework that picks up signals from hospital admissions, deaths, test and trace as well as soft intelligence picked up from our services and members of the community.

“Whilst the number of positive tests reported have changed, it is reassuring to note that Lancashire’s weekly case rate is decreasing in the last few weeks.

“We are expecting more information on a district basis to be shared with us and will be publishing this every week.

“It is very important to reinforce messages on washing hands, watching 2 m distance and wearing a face covering along with staying at home and ordering a test if symptomatic.”

Across the whole of Lancashire, as of 2nd July, 1,253 people have died with Covid in the county’s hospitals and care homes.

TOTAL CONFIRMED COVID CASES IN LANCASHIRE AFTER ADDITION OF COMMUNITY TESTING RESULTS (as of 2nd July, 2020)

The figure in brackets shows the increase over the previously-reported figure, which was derived solely from NHS and PHE lab tests.

LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL AREA – 6,596 (+2,739)

BURNLEY – 437 (+236)

CHORLEY – 667 (+302)

FYLDE – 436 (+153)

HYNDBURN – 316 (+157)

LANCASTER – 879 (+68)

PENDLE – 416 (+214)

PRESTON – 1,144 (+654)

RIBBLE VALLEY – 187 (+82)

ROSSENDALE – 281 (+103)

SOUTH RIBBLE – 504 (+223)

WEST LANCASHIRE – 709 (+315)

WYRE 620 (+232)

BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN – 974 (+550)

BLACKPOOL 1,012 (328)