South Shropshire councillor warns of 'all-time high' Covid infection rates
A south Shropshire councillor who has had Covid has warned that infection rates in his town are at an "all time high."
Government figures show that in the seven days to October 21 some 61 cases were recorded in Ludlow, giving a case rate of 556.7 per/100,000 people.
That compares to an England average of 400 per 100,000 people.
Ludlow councillor Andy Boddington said that the infection rate had reached 885 in Ludlow in the week to October 17.
Councillor Boddington said: "That was more double the infection rate for England (388) and Shropshire (485) and considerably higher than for Telford & Wrekin (593). Although rates are now beginning to fall, they still remain at an all time high for our town."
The councillor speculated that Shropshire and Ludlow are playing catch up with the rest of the country having experienced lower infection rates than much of the country during 2020.
"With schools having been back and social mixing restrictions all but abandoned, infection has been growing in our community," he said in his blog this week.
Councillor Boddington advised people who have any symptoms that might be Covid, even if they have had two jabs, not to attend a vaccination appointment.
"A small number of residents have been turning up 'hot' with signs of infection," he said.
"The best way to check your status is to take a lateral flow test before attending appointments or even before going for lunch with friends. Lateral flow tests are free and can be ordered online. But if you have symptoms, you can get a PCR test though the post or at one of several testing sites across Shropshire, including Ludlow Eco Park."
He added: "Based on the latest figures, people in Ludlow now have a 1 in 120 chance of testing positive for Covid over a seven day period.
"Daily the odds are about 1 in 800.
"If you have been once, twice or thrice vaccinated your odds of catching Covid will be much lower but not negligible.
"Quite a few of us, me included, have had Covid after two doses of vaccine and I can assure you, while vaccination significantly reduced the impact, it can still knock you back for several weeks."
