Covid infection levels in England seem to be remaining roughly the same, and the risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life remains HIGH. Everyone still needs to continue to take precautions to avoid catching Covid, because Covid has not gone away. Around 1 in 200 people in England are infected with Covid, as of 7 April. See below for more on how we calculated this.
As an example of the current risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have around 2 infected people breathing out virus for you to breathe in. In a full single decker bus, there will probably be 1 infected person breathing out virus. In a busy train carriage, there will be around 1 infected person breathing out virus. In these circumstances, unless you wear a respiratory filter mask, you have a high risk of catching Covid. Cloth and surgical masks do not protect you.
The Government is ruthlessly suppressing Covid-19 data. The flagship ONS/UKHSA Winter Infection Survey was abruptly stopped on 14 March, and a number of other Covid-related studies and surveys ended on 31 March. We have looked at all the available public data, including the Notification of Infectious Diseases (NOIDS) report dated 7 April, to be able to make an informed estimate of current Covid-19 infection levels in England. We feel that our estimate of roughly 1 in 200 people in England with Covid as of 7 April is a credible assessment of the current risk for the purposes of giving disabled and clinically vulnerable people information to manage their own risk. If you would like to know more about our methodology, please contact us.
The Government said in 2022 that Covid would be treated as a ‘seasonal winter virus’ like influenza. However, unlike influenza, Covid has plainly not ended now that we have reached spring. In fact, Covid levels remain stubbornly high, as shown above. Covid remains a pandemic virus, present all year round. We see peaks of Covid when a new variant comes along to which people have no or little immunity, as we saw in winter 2023. We also see rises in Covid infection levels when people’s immunity to existing variants starts to fade – we call this a reinfection wave.
Remember, Covid is airborne: the virus spreads mainly through the air. An infected person in an unventilated place creates a large invisible cloud of virus which hangs in the air like smoke, ready for you to breathe in. Because the NHS has not improved the ventilation in its buildings, hospitals and GP practices are extremely dangerous places to catch Covid. NHS staff are now required to work even if they have Covid and there are no Covid precautions in place at most NHS buildings. Do avoid hospitals and GP practices unless your visit is essential and wear a tight-fitted filter mask (FFP2 or FFP3) or respirator all the time if you have to go there.
BuDS strongly recommends that disabled and clinically vulnerable people avoid public transport and indoor spaces unless they are wearing a filter mask (FFP2/3) or respirator. For more advice on how to avoid catching Covid, 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.