A rise in Covid-related deaths has been recorded for Thanet

The coronavirus data

The number of Covid-related deaths within 28 days of a positive virus test for Thanet has risen by 9 today (November 17), making a total of 13 in the last seven days. According to the government data dashboard this is a rise of 12 – or 1200%- on the previous seven days.

The total number of deaths for Thanet of people who had tested Covid positive within the previous 28 days now stands at 133.

Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate but may not be the primary cause of death.

There have been 60 Covid positive tests  recorded for today and a total of 735 in the last seven days – a rise of 283 on the seven days prior. Total positive cases for Thanet now stands at 2715.

The government dashboard says the seven day rolling rate to November 12 is 481.3 per 100,000, Kent County Council’s published data says the weekly cases per 100,000 people up to November 13 is 516.5 for Thanet. The England average is 270.3.

Thanet currently has the second highest rate in Kent, behind Swale at 584.3

Across the UK 598 deaths and 20,051 positive tests were reported today. Deaths are allocated to the deceased’s usual area of residence. Where available, postcode of residence for deaths is obtained from the information collected at the time of testing

Figures are updated daily, although there is time lag on some statistics. They can be found on the government dashboard here and here and the KCC page here

Find an interactive map for neighbourhood data at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/interactive-map

Test centres

Thanet has two Covid testing walk/drive in centres at Manston and Margate.

Testing statistics for NHS laboratories (pillar 1) and commercial partners (pillar 2) are  recorded by Kent Public Health. The data below is recorded up to November 12.

Kent Public Health data says the sensitivity of RT-PCR testing methodology is reportedly poor and has been estimated to give false-negative rates between 2% and 29% of the time.

Tier levels

At a public briefing this week it was suggested tier level restrictions may be ‘strengthened’ when England comes out of national lockdown on December 2.

Chief Medical Advisor to NHS Test and Trace Dr Susan Hopkins said Tier 1, which Thanet was in before the national restrictions came into force on November 5, “had very little effect.”

The health expert said Tier 3 and Tier 3 plus, which had the most severe restrictions, had resulted in a reducing of cases in the North West, whilst Tier 2 had seen a ‘hold’ in cases in some areas. But Tier 1 had not been effective.

Dr Hopkins said: “When we are looking at tiers in future we will need to think about strengthening them in order to get us through the winter months until a vaccine is available to everyone.”

38 Comments

  1. International Medical associations highly recommend people to wear masks of the FFP2 type. These consist of 5 layers of varying strength filters.
    Amazon have them in stock, but so might a local chemists.
    Mask up, keep your distance, wash your hands often!
    Keep safe… mask up!

    • Unfortunately Robster, there is a growing number of people in Thanet who simply refuse to wear a mask. The amount of people claiming to be exempt seems to be growing almost daily. It’s amazing to see someone refuse to wear a face covering claiming they have breathing difficulties and then watch them leave the shop and light up a cigarette laughing like the simpletons they are.

      This minority of people who choose to disobey government requirements are the same fools who are responsible for the increased spreading of COVID in the community. These selfish idiots are endangering others lives and their selfish behaviour is only going to prolong the lockdown and make a bad situation worse for all of us.

      The anti mask brigade don’t care about the elderly and sick, they don’t care about others only themselves and their own interests. It says a lot about the last couple of me me me generation when people are more concerned about a night down the pub than the health of their parents, their grandparents, neighbours and friends.

      • The shops aren’t helping either-it is their duty to challenge people entering without a mask. But also people in the shops are supposed to be wearing them & not all of them do either-so this sets a poor example.

        The staff also aren’t enforcing the distance rule for idiots who decided to not stand on the clearly marked floor markings at the tills & instead right behind other customers-I saw & encountered this at the Westwood Tesco last week. It seems profit comes before health & not ‘having a scene’ for these large companies.

        While it is true that these people are making things worse, the governments abysmal decision making since the start of the year-from not quarantining people coming back from overseas to sending children back to school when it is obvious the majority can do their studying at home, to waiting 6-7 weeks to instigate another lockdown when the scientific advisors were telling them to-despite saying they would follow that advice. Also look at the leader-already had Covid due to his reckless & stupid behaviour & here he is again having to isolate because he just sat in a room with a bunch of other politicians without them wearing masks or distancing.

        Afraid the UK has a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol & has for many decades, excessive consumption & all the problems that brings back from a health & societal standpoint & this isn’t just the me generation-the worst boozers are those my age (40’s)& over. People in their seventies & eighties are becoming ever more problematic with their consumption.

        • Shops will have told staff not to challenge those not wearing masks , partly because of the “not all disabilities are visible” nonsense , so giving anyone an excuse , but mainly because of the abuse they will eventually receive from a non mask wearer.
          Its not a shops job to enforce the law, that’s why we have a police force.
          That the uk has had such poor covid numbers will largely be down to lack of responsibility, selfishness and being such a fat unhealthy population.
          But whilst such behaviours are effectively condoned by throwing so much money about ( but doing nothing to deal with the central issues) the idiots will never change their ways. Plus we have the press and authorities choosing not to show the links between lifechoices and bad covid outcomes..

        • i think every shop should have a no mask no entry rule also all staff should be made to wear masks i mean come on how are we ever going to get on top of this virus if people are just doing what they want with no regard of the rules or of other peoples health and risks

        • I work in retail and the abuse I have endured when challenging people about wearing masks and following the one way system is quite frankly Vile- It is not our jobs to re-in force the law that’s the job the police – I dread going to work – the abusive is shocking and I mean shocking – my store manager point blank refused to serve a lady who swore at me just for mentioning the one way system as she walked into the store — why do people think that is acceptable

      • I totally agree with you. The youngsters of today (the next generation) don’t care about anything or anyone except their spoilt, greedy selves. The universities should have been shut down and the schools as now many are having to close anyway because they are getting Covid 19.

    • Don’t you mean mask manufacturers & sellers? At between 20-30 quid for 10 masks, which are one use only it is cost prohibitive for most. Then you have the dual issue of them being difficult to wear correctly-NHS staff have to be trained multiple times per year how to wear them & how uncomfortable they are to wear for any extended period due to overheating & how difficult it makes breathing.

      • Where do you buy your masks. Harrods?
        Boots sell them for £15.00, a small price to pay for
        Keeping everybody safe.

        • I don’t, I wear a reusable face covering-I found the price to generally be between 20-30 quid online & seeing as they are disposable that & 15 quid is a lot of money & a whole lot of waste for something the majority of people will be unable to fit correctly to where it is effective.

      • Really, the requirement is for a face covering, so washable reusable is perfectly adequate, 90%+ of us will neverr have to wear a mask for long periods, an inability to put up with a bit of discomfort for a while in tescos is hardly a big thing or it shows how pathetic people have become.
        Lets be honest the issue is laziness, self entitlement and lack of responsibility ( both personal and to others). All this talk of saving the nhs from being overwhelmed is one thing but can we apply that logic to the overweight and obese and expect them to change their ways ?

        • It is more being able to fit an N95/FFP2 correctly in that setting-these masks are not easy to put on-even for people in the medical field who have trainers come in throughout the year to teach them. You can have the best mask in the world, but if it isn’t fitted correctly then it is useless.

          100% not-we have built supersize ambulances for people weighing up to something like 60 stone & ambulance crews are expected to put their backs out carrying these people down & up flights of stairs etc for appointments & medical emergencies. Doctors are not supposed to be calling obese people obese or fat any longer. The healthy at every size/fat positivity movements promote saying you are triggered whenever your weight is mentioned & how you are being discriminated against & bullied-we are becoming ever more a culture of invented woke victimhood & oppression when we don’t like to hear reality or scientific facts-such as the real number of sexes, that being obese is unhealthy, that drinking too much is unhealthy, that you aren’t mentally ill because you have normal human reactions/emotions etc.

  2. The heart breaking thing is it’s not only Covid itself that’s taking lives it’s also the effects of lockdown and hospital services disruption. My son passed away in August maybe if he had been able to have his kidney surgery in march he would still be with us. Don’t waste the sacrifices so many people made during the first lockdown by flouting the rules of the second. Do we really need the government to tell us to wear masks and wash our hands keep a distance etc we all know what we should be doing. Lets all stand together ( socially distanced of course) and take responsibility for ourselves and each other. Don’t let more families feel the pain of loosing a loved one before their time. Keep safe.

  3. I think wearing a “face covering” (that’s what the rules say, not “mask”) is little use in normal circumstances. The virus particles are tiny. Expecting a face covering to screen out the virus is a bit like straining rice with a chain link fence.
    But if the government says we must, then we must. Which rather begs some questions:
    Why are we mandated to wear face coverings in shops and on public transport?
    If it’s because it stops the transmission of a deadly virus, then shouldn’t *everyone*, without exception, be required to wear, not just a face covering, but a “proper” mask? Why should some people who can’t or won’t wear a mask have what is tantamount to a licence to kill? Because that’s what it boils down to.

    • Because N95/FFP2 masks are totally impractical to wear for long periods-for one thing they are very difficult to fit correctly to be effective-even for trained medical staff & cause overheating & respiratory issues.

  4. Masks are to ensure you don’t infect someone else, they are not to stop the wearer getting it themselves.

    I think the Thanet numbers need contextualising for age bandings, and also capacity at QEQM (not East Kent/Ashford) it’s meaningless to those in Thanet.

    Without context, the numbers are just a fright fest.

  5. “Masks are to ensure you don’t infect someone else”.
    If that is the case, then shouldn’t the wearing if them be mandatory for everyone in enclosed public spaces?
    Because, if you don’t or won’t wear one, you have the potential for spreading a fatal virus to others.

    • If you don’t wear a face covering (valid reason or not) you are more likely to spread a lethal virus. (We are told that we should wear face coverings to protect others). It follows that if we don’t wear a face covering when everyone else is, we are putting others in jeopardy.

  6. Andrew nobody is saying that this pandemic hasn’t generated horrific grief and loss in our communities and countries. We need to be able to address the facts as well as empathise and support our fellow humans, and find a way through the media hysteria. I’m not referring to the Isle of Thanet news as hysterical at all, I’m referring to the mainstream media.

    People are terrified to leave their house. This isn’t right.

    • Why would anybody be terrified to leave their house? That was the case during the first 3-4 months for many, but now it has just become normal to some degree. Your chances of catching it out in the open air are practically zero.

    • The mainstream media don’t seem to be all that hysterical considering that millions are dying in the world because of coronavirus. And how many people are actually “terrified to leave their house”? If there were that many, the infection rate wouldn’t be going up veru much.

  7. We should all be properly wearing N95 at least, masks. No-one, whether staff or public should be in an enclosed space without one. No exemptions, if you can’t wear a mask get your goods delivered or seek help. Too many children are being dragged around supermarkets too. More importantly what are the air conditioning and ventilation methods in these enclosed spaces? At least hepa filtered clean air not just recycled contaminated air! Public transport and taxis are deadly.

    • 1. It is highly difficult to be able to correctly wear an N95 mask-even NHS staff struggle & have to have regular training from experts. That is why aside from the NHS & care homes needing them people are advised to wear face coverings-it is something realistic.

      2. The cost of N95 masks which have to be thrown away after one use is cost prohibitive for the majority of people-especially in a deprived area like Thanet.

      3. N95 masks when fitted properly are extremely uncomfortable & wearing them for extended periods will cause breathing problems & overheating-this is another reason they are not practical in anything other than a medical/care setting.

      4. I have no idea why people are being allowed to shop as couples or why children are being taken around supermarkets, or rather why it is allowed.

      5. Probably poorly maintained in most places.

      6. Unless you have no choice you would have to be insane to want to use public transport.

      • I’ ve used trains occasionally during this pandemic. I’m often the only person in the carriage. On one occasion, I counted 8 people getting off an 11 coach train.
        Not too much social mixing there.

    • “We should all be properly wearing N95 at least, masks. No-one, whether staff or public should be in an enclosed space without one. No exemptions, if you can’t wear a mask get your goods delivered or seek help.”
      I whole-heartedly agree with this comment.
      The idea of face coverings is to protect others from a lethal virus. If, for what ever reason, you don’t wear one where everyone else should, there is the potential for you to infect everyone you come into close contact with.
      If you don’t, can’t or won’t wear a mask, then don’t risk the health and well being of your neighbours and fellow towns people. Stay out of busy indoor public spaces.

  8. If masks are no good why do all of China wear masks at all times .They have hardy any cases .Makes you think doesn’t Thanet had 738 cases last week .China had about 20 !

  9. If Chinese people wear masks all the time, why was there ever a CV outbreak in the first place?
    China got a grip on things, eventually. They completely locked down whole regions. All travel was stopped. That’s how China coped.
    In England, during the first lockdown, only about 25% of people wore any sort of face covering. Despite this, the rate of infection dropped rapidly a couple of weeks after lockdown. Why? Because people only went out when strictly necessary, and stayed at least 2 metres from others in supermarket queues etc.
    If face coverings are so vital, then:
    Why didn’t the government specify a minimum standard?
    Why is it ok not to wear one if you go in a sandwich bar and buy a sandwich to eat in (20 minutes close contact with others); if you buy exactly the same sandwich in exactly the same shop to eat in the park (2 minutes in the shoo) you have to wear one?
    If I go to the supermarket (10 minutes and only close to 1 or 2 other people) I have to wear one; if I go to the pub (2 hours and many people) I dont. Unless I stand up.
    It’s just crazy. It makes no sense at all.
    What does make sense is to stay apart from other people, and to wash your hands (or use sanitizer) after each shop you visit.

  10. the wearing of masks in shops should be no mask no entry how else are we going to bring down the infection rate, if we get a stuped minority who are putting every one else at risk by doing what they want.

    • I am verbally abused daily just for asking the public “ would you like a mask “ Or when I mention We have a one way system in store I have been subjected to “ I will walk where I like you f****** jobsworth — My store refused to serve a lady because of her verbal abuse to one of our staff

  11. Why are we not receiving the true figures of deaths with covid19 and why is covid mentioned on death certificates when it has no relation to the cause of death?. Honesty surely is a better policy.

  12. Here in Canada we all adhere to the mandatory mask policy. You must wear a mask in enclosed spaces i.e. stores and now in common areas of apartment buildings also. What is the problem with that. Everyone here does it. If you don’t you don’t get into the store to shop. The stores are private property (not government owned) so they can refuse entry to anyone they want. If you say you can’t wear a mask then you shouldn’t be able to infect someone else by not wearing one and you’re also risking your own health by not wearing one. For goodness sake all you anti-maskers, grow up and take some responsibility. Stop shopping in pairs or with your kids. Not necessary. Bide your time and this will get better. Vaccinations are on the horizons. Think of your fellow man/woman. Stay safe Britain.

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