Posts
Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 14 August 2023
The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life continues to rise. With around 1 in every 53 people in England now infected with Covid, the risk remains Very High. (This is also the rate and risk for Bucks). There also has been a sharp increase in the number of hospital patients infected with Covid.
As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 4 and 8 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.
Hospitals and GP practices remain the most 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) all the time if you have to go there.
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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 7 August 2023
The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life is continuing to increase. With around 1 in every 57 people in England infected with Covid, the risk remains Very High. (This is also the rate and risk for Bucks).
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.
This increase in Covid infections marks the end of the “summer lull”. Risk levels have now returned to the level seen in the spring of this year. It is likely that Covid infections will now continue to increase over the rest of the summer and into the autumn. While it is too early to tell, we may be about to see a rapid increase caused by the spread of a new variant, EG.5.1, to which most people will not have immunity.
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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 24 July 2023
The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week is again higher than it was last week, and remains Very High. Around 1 in every 60 people in England have Covid – this is also the rate for Bucks.
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.
This increase in Covid infections may mean the end of the “summer lull”, or it may just be a temporary uptick and rates will go down again. We do not have enough data to tell at this stage. However, it is probably most likely that Covid infections will now continue to increase over the rest of the summer and into the autumn. We will keep you updated weekly, as we have done for the last 3 years.
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.
Help In A Disability Hate Crime Crisis
If you are in a disability hate crime crisis or situation, there are many organisations you can contact for help. BuDS has compiled a list of them, and their contact details. If you want to shortcut to a specific organisation, use the menu below. For each organisation, there is contact details and, where available, their website, as well as a brief description of their work.
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Hate Crime Support & Report Service

The Support & Report Service is here to help anyone affected by disability hate crime or a disability hate incident. If you choose to report the matter to the police, the Service can support you and help you through the process.
Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 17 July 2023
The risk of meeting a Covid-infected person in your everyday life this week is slightly higher than it was last week, and remains Very High. Around 1 in every 71 people in England have Covid – this is also the rate for Bucks.
As an example of the risk of catching Covid, a typical busy supermarket will have between 3 and 6 infected people breathing out virus which you could catch.
Bucks and England appear to be still in a “summer lull”, similar to 2022. We have not yet found any firm evidence of a major increase in infection rates.
There are two main reasons for this lull. Most of the population have now already caught a variant of Covid in the last few months, and a new variant has not yet come along. This means that the temporary immunity that you get from catching Covid is protecting most people from a fresh infection. That will change, of course, when the next new variant arrives which can avoid the temporary immunity given by past variants.
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