🧵tl,dr:
- fewer LFDs
- fewer cases
- fewer contacts reached and it's taking longer, plus what might be the role of international cases
- and why this is the last update to our @HealthFdn performance tracker.
Number of people tested is down this week by 7% to 4.61m, with number of positive cases also down 9% to 14,313.
The drop in people tested is again due to changes in the use of rapid LFD tests for people without symptoms, rather than changes to PCR test use.
And nearly 2/3 of the fall is due to less reported secondary school testing.
Across the regions, there are ongoing differences in testing rates - lowest in London and the highest in the East Mids.
When looking by local authority, it varies by nearly five-fold.
This could be for very good reasons, but also it may also indicate structural differences in test access with implications for viral spread.
We plan to explore this separately in the coming weeks.
Much of the contact tracing performance is largely unchanged.
91% of cases were reached, and 82% provided contact details.
39,875 contacts identified with around 4.6 contacts per case.
But the percentage of contacts reached is falling - now at 84%. Why?
Main reason is that fewer contacts are from the same household as the case. Now just 46%.
Non-HH contacts are more difficult to reach.
The percentage of contacts in the same HH is the same as ever at 96%, and the percentage of non-HH contacts reached is also largely unchanged.
This week it's down a little at 73% compared with generally hovering between 75% and 78%.
One thing mentioned in the T&T report is the impact of international arrivals on contact tracing, and numbers by country are now reported in the data tables.
In the 2 wks from 22/4-5/5, over 800 international arrivals tested positive. In the preceding 2 weeks it was over 1,400.
Here, contact tracing everyone on an aircraft is both arduous and time consuming.
This is seen in the end-to-end times, where % of contacts reached <3 days of the case tested fell from 80% at the end March to 59% 2wks later, before picking up a bit to 68% in the most recent wk.
And, as mentioned in thread on today's surveillance report, I'm really concerned that yet *again*, its the areas of the country most in need of socioeconomic recovery that are being most impacted by rising case rates and variants.
And finally, after nearly a year since T&T launched, today's the last (planned) update to our @HealthFdn T&T performance tracker from @cfraserepi and me (big thanks to comms colleagues on this).
As we get closer to it's anniversary, we'll write a short blog about the first 12 months of T&T, but here are some of my thoughts on the situation and why now seems like a good time to stop.
Gov data shows how price promos are more likely to be applied to unhealthy junk food rather than healthier foods.
And rather than saving people ££, they can lead to around 22% *more* purchases than would otherwise happen, with *more* money spent and *more* consumption.
That's why companies use these promotions.
That's also why the policy was in the obesity strategy in the first place. The irony being that it is more likely to help than hinder the impact of the cost of living crisis on individuals and families.
In today's @Telegraph, Sally O'Brien & I discuss @HealthFdn / @IpsosUK polling results on public attitudes to gov policy on alcohol, tobacco, & unhealthy food (no £-wall🔓)
🧵Tl,dr: While gov has a preference for individual responsibility, the public still think gov should act.
Gains in healthy life-expectancy have stalled, childhood obesity continues to rise, alcohol-related hospital admissions are up, and tobacco still causes over 500,000 admissions a year.
And there are huge inequalities with more deprived areas disproportionately impacted.
Yet the recent trend of unwinding public health policy continues.
The tobacco control plan is unpublished, junk food ad bans have been delayed, plans for a national approach to health inequalities have gone & there's been nothing on alcohol since 2012.
First the good news. COVID cases in hospital clearly falling, in all ages, regions (except perhaps still plateauing in Yorkshire and Humber).
There's still a lag on cases in intensive care and on deaths, but they'll drop soon as well.
Flu, however, seems to be on the rise.
Overall case & admission rates are relatively low, but trending up.
And with a higher % of lab respiratory samples (sent in by dr from people with chest symptoms) testing for flu than at the same time in the past 5 yrs. i.e., it's early
This is a really helpful and timely piece of work by @davidfinchthf.
Along with last week's @TheIFS report on how government ££ are spent, it's clear that we need to do more to align public health funding with local needs. 🧵
Over the last decade, gains in life expectancy in England have stalled.
And it will be no surprise that the impact has not been felt evenly by everyone.
While life expectancy continues to increase for people living in the least deprived parts of the country, people from the most deprived communities are dying earlier.
This type of shortsighted policy review has reared its head again.
Health is an *asset* & the types of obesity policies being looked at here are exactly the ones that are both most effective AND most likely to narrow inequalities. 🧵