Covid-19 cases falling ‘reasonably quickly’ but Sheffield’s hospitals still ‘very busy’

Sheffield’s director for public health said the number of Covid-19 cases are falling ‘reasonably quickly’ every day but hospital activity is still ‘very busy’.
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Greg Fell, Sheffield director of public health, gave an update on the coronavirus situation in the city during a full council meeting on Wednesday, December 2.

He said: “As of today, the rate is going down reasonably quickly. We are seeing about 130/140 cases per day in Sheffield, that goes down every day. Last week it was about 180 cases per day in Sheffield.

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“It’s impossible to call how and when that downwards slope will settle out towards a new low but it will.

Sheffield's Director of Public Health, Greg FellSheffield's Director of Public Health, Greg Fell
Sheffield's Director of Public Health, Greg Fell

“We are still seeing principally household based transmission. We spend the most time there, our guard is down, we all think we are safe there and we don’t clean down touch point surfaces very frequently, thus most of the transmission is within our household. We all think we will catch this illness from a stranger outside the house, the converse is actually true.

“The age specific rates are decreasing across the board. The average age of a case is falling now.

“While it’s clearly good news that hospital activity is falling, it’s not falling terribly fast – the rate of fall is glacial. Hospitals are really very busy and while they are dealing with less people who are very poorly with Covid, they are still really rather busy.

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“The bath is full and the taps have been turned off but the bath is not emptying fast enough.

"That is one of the key worries for the future.”

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