Trafford’s Covid-19 case numbers are starting to slightly rise again, following a ‘big reduction’ in case rates since the start of July, according to public health officials.
Eleanor Roaf, director for public health at Trafford council gave an update to the local authority this morning (Wednesday).
She said: “While we’ve seen a big reduction in our case numbers since the beginning of July, that reduction has now slowed down.
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“We’re now starting to see an increase in cases again in Trafford. We’re not seeing a dramatic increase, but it is an increase.”
The trend is being mirrored across the rest of Greater Manchester’s boroughs, Ms Roaf explained.
The increase in case rates is mainly in the borough’s 19 to 24 year olds and a small increase in the 30 to 44 age group – both groups previously had the highest rates in the borough before the increases began.
Ms Roaf explained that many in the 19 to 24 year old bracket are still waiting for their second dose of the vaccine, but said there also needs to be an increase in the uptake of vaccines within that age group.
She added: “If we can get more people vaccinated in August that would be fantastic because we know that September is going to be busy, so if you can get your vaccine in early you’ll get more choice of slots.”
The borough’s current infection rate stands at 300 per 100,000 people.
Ms Roaf added: “It’s quite significant, but fortunately we are seeing the vaccination is working well and it is stopping that hospitalisation and death.
“But the vaccine can’t do everything on its own. We do really need to support it. No vaccine is 100pc effective and you can still become ill and you still give other people covid if you’re infected, even after you’ve been vaccinated.
“We’d still continue to urge people to be quite cautious, every ward in the borough has rates over 120 per 100,000 and that’s not unusual across the whole of Greater Manchester.
“So I would say to people please go and get that vaccine but I would also say please can we all continue to do everything we can to help the vaccine work. Take extra care, meet people outside if you can, continue to treat covid with respect, it can create a very nasty illness still.”
The health boss also said that while official guidance is from Monday August 16 you will no longer have to self isolate if you’ve come into contact with someone who tests positive for covid (subject to a negative PCR test), so long as you’ve been double vaccinated, she urged people to still be cautious.
She added: “You can still spread covid even if you’ve been vaccinated. Give people space, continue to wear face coverings, not everybody there might be in good health so respect everybody’s needs.
“But don’t worry, there are still people who are very worried about covid, but it is important that we get out and about and back to a normal life, or rather a cautious normal life, a slightly different normal life.”
