Covid cases in Walsall more than double in a week

Statistics presented to the town’s local outbreak engagement board on July 6 showed in the week ending July 2 there had been 486 cases – a rate of 169.5 per 100,000 population.

This represented a 117.9 per cent increase on the week ending June 25 where the rate was 77.8 per 100,000 population. Back in May, the rate stood at 20.2.

Health chiefs said despite the encouraging take up of the vaccination in Walsall, there was still hesitancy amongst some groups, including young people.

Since the pandemic started, there have been 27,159 confirmed cases and a total of 852 Covid-related deaths.

Emma Thomas, from Walsall’s public health team, said: “(Most) positive cases are amongst the younger age groups, so the 20-24-year olds and secondary-age children is where we need to focus our messaging on.

“We know that those aged 18 or over are encouraged to take up the vaccination.

“It’s up to us to ensure we still abide by the government guidelines and the basic messaging is please get your vaccinations.

“Up to July 3, there have been a total of 852 deaths in Walsall. We don’t want that to be increasing. Covid has impacted us and we want to do all we can to prevent that increasing.”

Louise Jones, from the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group said: “Walsall is one of the best-performing local authorities within the Black Country and West Birmingham with 85 per cent of all residents aged 25 and over having had their first dose.

“Following the expansion of vaccination into all adults we are encountering high levels of hesitancy amongst the younger cohorts.

“According to the office of national statistics, 13 per cent of people aged 16 to 29 are still hesitant about receiving the vaccination.”

Walsall Council portfolio holder for health and wellbeing Stephen Craddock warned the increasing cases showed the virus hadn’t disappeared despite the Prime Minister announcing ‘Freedom Day’ for July 19.

He said: “I find myself in a very rare moment of agreement with the shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth when he called for face masks to remain compulsory on public transport and in shops.

“I chair Brownhills Community Association and we made a decision to continue to insist face masks be worn in the building for a further three months and we will review that.

“I would urge other organisations to consider their policy on Covid measures going forward.

“We’ve heard the vaccination programme is proving to be a huge success. Two doses are around 96 per cent effective. Despite this, there are challenges to overcome hesitancy.

“The virus hasn’t gone away. It’s still as dangerous as it ever was to anyone who is not vaccinated.”