Articles in Our Work

Articles in Covid-19

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

Ben Clark

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.

Ten and twenty pound notes spread out with coins on top of them

Card Only Payments May Discriminate Against Disabled People

Ben Clark

Since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, many shops, services, and businesses have started accepting only debit or credit card payments. This was originally done to reduce the small risk of passing on the virus by handling coins and notes.

However, many businesses quickly realised that not accepting cash has other advantages for them, such as cutting staff time, reducing theft risks, and reducing bank charges. For this reason, many shops and businesses have decided to stay ‘card only’ and not accept cash payments.

However, only accepting card payments may be discriminating against some disabled people who are unable to use cards because of their disability.

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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

Ben Clark

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

Ben Clark

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

Ben Clark

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 learning disabled child smiling into the camera and holding up her hands, which are brightly painted with several colours

Moving Through Key Educational Transitions as a Disabled Young Person: The Education Workstream of the SEND Transitions Service

Ben Clark

The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education. 

The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work. This page explains the Education workstream, which is within the BuDS Fair4All Education project. 

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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

Ben Clark

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

Ben Clark

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.

1 in 57 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 24 April 2023

Ben Clark

The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week is Very High, as the latest wave continues to decline. Around 1 in every 57 people in Bucks have Covid.

As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 5 and 10 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.

The current wave of infection is now well past its peak, and will probably continue to decline over the next few weeks. However, the risk of meeting a Covid-infected person will probably remain Very High for the rest of April.

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.