Articles in Covid-19

1 in 71 people in Bucks now infected. 4 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Very High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 3 July 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week remains about the same as it was last week. The risk is still Very High. Around 1 in every 71 people in Bucks have Covid – this is also the rate for England as a whole.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 4 and 6 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

Bucks and England appear to be in a “summer lull”, similar to 2022. Recent peaks (March and May) have boosted temporary immunity, and the hot weather is reducing indoor contact. However, Covid is still widespread in the population, and we are confidently predicting that rates will again increase as we move into the autumn.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

To understand more about our Covid risk levels and what they mean, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 65 people in Bucks now infected. 5 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Very High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 26 June 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week remains about the same as it was last week. The risk is still Very High. Around 1 in every 65 people in Bucks have Covid – this is also the rate for England as a whole.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 4 and 6 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

To understand more about our Covid risk levels and what they mean, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 62 people in Bucks now infected. 5 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Very High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 20 June 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week has risen slightly. The risk is still Very High. Around 1 in every 62 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 4 and 7 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

As we predicted last week, the Covid risk appears to be rising again now that the school holidays are over. We cautiously expect this rise to continue for the near future.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

To understand more about our Covid risk levels and what they mean, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 66 people in Bucks now infected. 5 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid now Very High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 13 June 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week has fallen, but is still Very High. Around 1 in every 66 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 4 and 6 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

Covid infection rates historically fall during school holidays, so this is probably why the Covid risk has been lower in the last couple of weeks. People may have also been less likely to report symptoms to the Zoe study during the holidays. We are cautiously predicting that the Covid risk will rise again now that the school holidays are over.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

To understand more about our Covid risk levels and what they mean, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 42 people in Bucks now infected. 6 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Extremely High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 29 May 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week remains Extremely High. Around 1 in every 42 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 6 and 10 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

We think that we are now at the end of a small peak of Covid infections, but it is too early to say whether infections will go down or up in the next few weeks.

Looking back on last week, we think that we probably significantly underestimated the number of infections. We said that 1 in 40 people in Bucks had Covid, but the true figure was more likely to be around 1 in 29. Sadly, until the Government starts widespread testing again, it is much more difficult to estimate infection levels.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 40 people in Bucks now infected. 6 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Extremely High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 22 May 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week remains Extremely High. Around 1 in every 40 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 6 and 10 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

We are now in a period of higher Covid infection levels. It is too early to say whether we will see a further increase next week, or whether levels will begin to decline again. Because of this uncertainty, we may be underestimating the current risk.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 41 people in Bucks now infected. 6 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid rises to Extremely High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 15 May 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week has risen to Extremely High. Around 1 in every 41 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 6 and 10 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

We are now leaving the trough between Covid waves, and infection levels are beginning to rise again. The risk of meeting an infected person in your everyday life will increase over the next few weeks.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

1 in 59 people in Bucks now infected. 5 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Very High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 8 May 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week remains Very High. At least 1 in every 59 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 5 and 9 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

We are still in the trough between Covid waves. There are very early signs of an increase in the number of infected people. Very tentatively, we could see cases starting to increase over the next two to three weeks (to the end of May), and potentially a new peak of infections in June.

This ‘next wave’ may be driven by sub-variants of the XBB Covid variant, or by older variants for which people have lost their temporary immunity, or a mixture of both.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.

This article was edited on 9 May to take into account the late publication of the Zoe Covid Study data.

A line graph showing the number of infected people in Bucks recorded by the ONS Infection Survey (green line), and the Zoe Covid Study (orange line). The ONS line ends in early March 2023, and is replaced by markers suggesting a wave of Covid infections in March and April 2023. This is shown with blue crosses.

The March & April 2023 Covid Wave In Bucks

Since the ONS Infection Survey was cancelled in early March 2023, there has been no fully reliable way to work out how many people in Bucks have Covid. However, BuDS has been able to use the Zoe Covid Study data to calculate a likely number of infections since the ONS Survey ended. This article explains the March and April 2023 Covid wave in Bucks, based on BuDS’ calculations.

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1 in 56 people in Bucks now infected. 6 infected people in a busy supermarket. Risk of meeting someone with Covid remains Very High.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 1 May 2023

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week remains Very High. Around 1 in every 56 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 6 and 11 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

We are now in the trough between Covid waves, and infection levels are probably as low as they are going to get. The next Covid wave will start to build soon.

BuDS continues to recommend that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3). For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, use this link.

This data is based on the Zoe Health Study for Covid-19, adjusted to take account of its limited coverage. To learn more about this, use this link.

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.