Bid to boost Covid-19 testing in east of Sheffield where household transmission is "worrisome"

Sheffield’s director for public health said Sheffield Council is aiming to increase testing rates in the east of the city after it was identified as a Covid-19 hotspot.
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Greg Fell, the director for public health, spoke about the Track, Trace and Isolate system during an adult social care scrutiny committee meeting this week.

He said cases in Sheffield were “a bit too high for comfort” and “stubborn” and that household transmission was “worrisome” and mostly in the east of the city.

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He said: “There is still transmission across Sheffield, the numbers aren’t terribly high but the nature is that the worrisome transmission is household oriented mainly but not exclusively in the east of Sheffield so we have shifted our strategy on the ground and put a lot of emphasis on a very focused community response in the east of Sheffield and actively seeking to increase the testing rates there.

Sheffield’s director for public health, Greg FellSheffield’s director for public health, Greg Fell
Sheffield’s director for public health, Greg Fell

"That will find people that previously were not being diagnosed so it will give the impression things are out of control but what we are actually doing is finding people and intervening where we wouldn't have otherwise. So it's good we find people and we will be in that space for at least the next three or four weeks."

If you test positive for coronavirus or have symptoms you must self isolate for at least seven days and if you are a contact of someone who tested positive you must isolate for 14 days.

Ruth Granger, health protection manager, said at the meeting the average number of positive cases referred to the Track, Trace and Isolate system in Sheffield was 11 over the past seven days.

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The city was put under the spotlight earlier this month when the Guardian and Observer published an article which said it was one of the councils "facing the worst coronavirus outbreaks in England".

However, Mr Fell said the city is "nowhere near" needing a local lockdown as seen in Leicester.

He added: “The numbers of people infected have come down massively in the past six or seven weeks but they are still at a level that is a bit too high for comfort and they are a bit stubborn. That’s the reason Sheffield was identified as in need of enhanced support by the government two weeks ago.

“Many of you would have seen the headline in the Observer, to say I was a bit grumpy about the headline is the understatement of the century.

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What happened is a particular piece of data was looked at from a particular time point which coincided with GPs in eastern Sheffield who had been correctly doing testing, the numbers had gone up and it was interpreted as an uncontrolled outbreak in Sheffield and it was about the time when the headlines around Leicester were breaking.

But the wrong time point was interrupted and for that reason Sheffield was identified as in need of enhanced support.

“The reality is we are nowhere near the Leicester type of scenario and the numbers are going the right way but stubbornly and a bit too slowly for mine or anybody else’s comfort and it’s clear the nature of transmission has shifted.”

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