Highest-ever Covid case rate in Luton but the deaths and hospitalisations are slowing

Luton' s Covid case rate is at its highest ever level, but deaths and hospitalisations remain well below previous peaks, a meeting heard.

Hospital admissions have risen, according to the borough council's newly appointed director of public health Sally Cartwright.

However, the proportion compared to the case rate is much lower, she told a scrutiny health and social care review group meeting on Thursday (Jan 13).

"Our case rate is currently 1,800 per 100,000, which is the highest it's ever been," she explained. "It's really quite a high rate, and it's similar to the east of England and England average.

"We've seen hugely sharp increases during the last month across Luton and the eastern region. It looks like it's slowing and plateauing now on the latest data.

"We're aware that for previous peaks throughout the pandemic Luton has had what's known as enduring case rates.

"We tend to have been slower to reach those high levels elsewhere and then stayed there for longer.

"The good news is we're not seeing the increase in death rate and hospital admissions we've seen at other stages and compared to the last two peaks.

"Omicron is accounting for the majority of our cases in Luton," she said. "But we're seeing the booster vaccine provides good protection against symptomatic illness and hospital admissions with this variant.

"There's still a lot of transmission, but it's definitely showing to be against hospitalisation."

There have been supply chain issues over tests, she added. "We've just received another delivery, so our stocks are fine in Luton at the moment".

Chief executive of the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust David Carter said: "We currently have 105 patients in the Luton and Dunstable Hospital with Covid.

"And certainly we've seen a significant increase in those figures since Omicron became the dominant variant.

"It's fair to say we're in a slightly better position in some ways than we thought we'd be, given some of the modelling.

"We feel at this point we're in a position which has plateaued, in terms of new admissions, and we're now at the peak.

"That's been difficult to cope with, particularly over the way we need to isolate our patients as they come in.

"We're seeing increasing levels of transmission within the hospital. Fortunately this variant doesn't appear to be as harmful as previous ones.

"We know at the Luton and Dunstable we've got some old and poor estate, with a relatively low number of side rooms, so many of our wards are more prone. That's why we're trying to rebuild parts of the hospital.

"We've about 800 staff off at the moment and about half of those are related to Covid," he added.

"Normally our absence rates are three to four per cent. They're currently six to seven per cent.

"That's incredibly difficult, but the good news is it appears to be coming down now.

"We're at the limits of our critical care capacity. However, we're still coping with the number of patients who need those facilities.

"We still have patients, including some young ones, in critical care which shows how damaging this disease can be. There are both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients in hospital."

"We've made preparations in case there's a further surge, with plans for extra beds in currently unoccupied clinical areas."