There are many differences with covid cases, rates and deaths within the year from November 2020 to November 2021.
A year ago, in November 2020, we had just been put into a national lockdown. 12 months down the line, the coronavirus pandemic is still uncertain as we go into the Christmas season, one of the happiest times of the year.
Restrictions over Christmas have not been ruled out by Health Secretary Sajid Javid as cases and death continue to rise across the nation.
Currently in Gloucestershire, rates are three times higher now than they were this time last year. The cases recorded a year ago today were 138 around the county, compared to November 17th where 410 cases were confirmed. This massive leap in the space of 12 months is a big cause for concern and questions whether more should be done to contain cases from spreading and leading to deaths and hospitalisations.
Days ago, Gloucester had the reputation of having the highest infection rate in the county with it standing at 510.4 cases per 100,000 people. This compares with its close neighbour, Cheltenham, that has the lowest infection rate in the county at 422.3 cases per 100,000. As a whole, the infection rate is 468.7 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the UK average.
A local county to Gloucestershire in Mid Wales is Powys, which has seen infection rates sky high and currently sitting at 538.2 cases per 100,000 people. The big difference between the two counties is the population. Powys has a population of just about 132,500 people whereas Gloucestershire has a bigger population of 650,000 people, a difference of 517,500. The difference between these two counties is that whilst Gloucestershire is recording 410 cases, Powys only recorded 100 cases on that same day. Population between counties is the biggest factor when it comes to rates per 100,000, which explains why Powys’ is so high.
2021 brought along Covid vaccines which saw several different age ranges be offered at different times of the year. Only now have 12–15-year-olds been offered their first dose of the jab. Two doses of the vaccine along with a booster jab is now necessary in the battle for normality to return. Gloucester and Cheltenham have both had high percentage uptakes of the first and second doses. Gloucester has 81% for the first dose and 74.7% for the second dose whilst Cheltenham has 83.4% for the first dose and 77.5% for the second dose.
Where we’ll be with covid next year is still an uncertainty, considering we don’t even know what will be happening next month over Christmas. Vaccines and public behaviour will generally determine how quickly we will be back to proper normality.
