Trafford’s covid-19 infection rate is falling, but the rate of decline is starting to stall with Plan B restrictions due to end tomorrow (Thursday January 27).
As of the week ending Friday, January 21, it stood at 867.9 cases per 100,000 population.
That marks a decrease from the previous week, when it stood at 940 cases per 100,000 people, but the rate of that decrease is now starting to slow down.
But Trafford’s public health bosses have encouraged the wearing of face masks in public settings to continue as ‘good hygiene practice’, after the legal requirement to wear them comes to an end.
Acting Director for Public Health in Trafford, Helen Gollins, said: “I think it’s important that we remember that the pandemic isn’t over. People haven’t been as unwell with Omicron as they were with Delta, but Delta is still circulating.
“We’re still seeing people who are poorly, so we need to continue to be cautious and we need to continue with our covid secure actions.”
She encouraged people out and about in busy public spaces to continue wearing face coverings, work from home if feeling ill (even if they test negative), maintain hand hygiene and social distancing and continue to ensure ventilation in indoor settings.
In the week ending January 21, a total of 2,062 Trafford residents tested positive for covid-19.
Giving an update to Trafford council this morning (Wednesday January 26), Ms Gollins said: “It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for us in public health.
“In terms of positivity, so the proportion of people testing who test positive, is much higher than we would like to see and it demonstrates the level of infection that is circulating within the community. You can really see that spread across the borough.”
Trafford’s current infection rate places it third highest of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs.
In Trafford, Broadheath ward has the highest individual area infection rate across the borough – with a rate of more than 1,200 cases per 100,000 population.
Ashton-on-Mersey is second, followed by Bucklow-St-Martins, Brooklands and Village wards.
Trafford’s over 60s’ infection rate stands at 379 cases per 100,000 people, which also marks a decline on the previous week when it stood at 526 cases per 100,000 population.
In terms of by age group, the borough’s highest infection rates are currently being seen in the 0-14 age bracket, followed by Trafford’s 30 to 44-year-olds.
Across Greater Manchester’s hospitals, the number of people being admitted to hospital with covid is going down and there is also a slight decline in the number of people with covid occupying ventilated beds across the city-region.
The number of people dying in Trafford from covid remains low and ‘reasonably stable’, Ms Gollins explained.
Coun Mike Freeman, chairing the meeting, said: “We do know that this pandemic has not gone away and as we have seen there is a stalling in infection rates around our schools.”
With Plan B restrictions, including the legal requirement to wear face coverings in public settings, ending tomorrow (Thursday January 27), Ms Gollins added that the council’s public health team would be supporting any headteachers of the borough’s secondary schools who wish to continue with face mask wearing.
She added that school’s currently experiencing outbreaks should introduce face coverings as a ‘necessary measure’ to tackle this.
