As new levels of confirmed Covid infections are continuing to be set nationally, the fear of the Omicron variant grows and the impact on public confidence is already being felt by traders on Guildford High Street.
Public wariness of social mixing seems, once again, to be ahead of government policy.
But even as the government continues to encourage everyone to get vaccinated and boosted the Royal Surrey County Hospital is refusing to say, officially, how many of their Covid patients have been jabbed.
Asked how many Covid admissions and those receiving intensive care treatment had been fully vaccinated, a spokesperson would only say: “It’s a constantly changing picture but currently it’s a mixture of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.”
It is understood that patients are not always asked if they have been vaccinated but the information is, anyway, included on NHS patient records.
A trustworthy source who works in the hospital has told The Dragon on Thursday that only a minority of Covid patients that have been admitted have been vaccinated and so far, no one vaccinated had required intensive care.
On Tuesday, Surrey County Council’s summary report stated that there were “currently 170 Omicron confirmed cases” in the county that has a population of 1.2 million but the latest summary report published on Thursday (December 16) did not include an Omicron figure and showed fairly stable infection levels in the county.
The rising infection rates may not have yet fed into the published statistics, which always represents a slightly backward look at the situation as it was some days ago. But according to those stats, reported hospital Covid admissions and deaths remain, so far, low compared with earlier waves.
The problem is that if the number of people infected becomes very large even a very small proportion of those requiring hospital treatment will represent a major additional demand on the NHS generally and locally.
The BBC has reported that leaked minutes of a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), held on Thursday, show that government advisers are telling the government that more stringent restrictions need to be brought in very soon in England if ministers want to stop hospital admissions reaching 3,000 a day.
This website is published by The Guildford Dragon NEWS
Contact: Martin Giles mgilesdragon@gmail.com
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Valerie Thompson
December 18, 2021 at 6:49 pm
Just another example of the conspiracy of silence, or misinformation encouraged by the government to keep us in a state of fear. We have to learn to live with Covid. It is now endemic.
It is unfortunate for those who are unable, for health reasons to have vaccinations, but for the rest of the anti-vaxxers there is just no excuse.
They may not want it but they are the ones extending the effect of the virus and threatening the lives and freedom of those who are being sensible, good citizens.