Guildford’s Seven-Day Covid Infection Rate Dips as Second Lockdown Looms

Published on: 3 Nov, 2020
Updated on: 5 Nov, 2020

By Martin Giles

As the second lockdown approaches, the seven-day infection rate in Guildford and Surrey has dipped for the first time in six weeks.

There were 171 new cases in Guildford borough and 1,433 in Surrey.

With 115 new cases per 100,000 of population in the past week, the borough moved from having the third-highest rate in the county to the third lowest in what appears a volatile situation.

Elmbridge, which moved into Tier Two on October 17, has only one more case per 100,000 than Guildford but Runnymede, still designated Tier One, has 154 new cases.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the county’s deputy chief medical officer, predicted that increases in hospital admissions and deaths would follow increased rates of infection “as sure night follows day”, and that’s borne out by the latest figures.

Hospital admissions in the South East continue to rise sharply, up 200 over the week to 603, and deaths at the Royal Surrey rose to three for the week. Across Surrey, they fell back to 14.

Prof Van Tamm has also said a continued increased rise is “baked in” and, more worrying still, that we have lost control of the pandemic. Such views seem to have pushed the government into the nationwide lockdown.

See also: Local Covid-19 Stats

Figures of Covid related hospital admissions by local authority or for each hospital trust are not given, nor are figures published for hospital admissions by age group.

Fears of an infection eruption among the university’s influx of students appear unfounded.

As of Monday, November 2, the university was reporting a seven-day rolling total of 34 students and staff testing positive and a running total of 105 cases reported since September 17, including ones “no longer active”.

The university has about 17,000 students, giving a rate of 200 per 100,000. But the numbers are far lower than those reported in some universities in the North.

During a Commons debate yesterday (November 2), Guildford’s Conservative MP, Angela Richardson, singled out the Royal Surrey hospital as, “…well prepared under the excellent direction of chief executive Louise Stead, with a new 20-bed ward specifically for a second wave, [staffed by] medical professionals who have learned much during the first wave that will benefit patients in this autumn wave.”