North Yorkshire Omicron cases 'doubling every day' as county prepares for rise in hospitalisations

Officials from the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum pressed home public health messages – particularly around the need for booster vaccinations – as they highlighted the potential impact of a rapid increase in case numbers at a press conference on Friday (December 17).

Amanda Bloor, Accountable Officer for North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “We do still have a significant number of Covid-positive patients in our hospitals and although that has come down from a high of over 180 a few weeks ago we are this week seeing an upward trend.”

She said as of Thursday there were 105 Covid patients in regional hospitals with 15 in intensive care units. Of the total in hospital, 12 were in Harrogate, 30 in York, 18 in Scarborough and 45 in South Tees.

Richard Webb, Director of Health and Adult Services at North Yorkshire County Council, said: “Omicron - this is different. It is serious and it could be very disruptive to life and to business as we all try and live with Covid. And we just don’t know the full extent of that yet.

“Even in North Yorkshire although numbers are lower at present, we are seeing a daily doubling of new variant cases. If we follow previous patterns then we may be two to three weeks behind the trend we’re currently seeing in London.”

He reiterated the need for people to get vaccinated as well as following rules and around face masks, ventilation, working from home where possible and being careful when socialising.

The region has delivered a high number of booster vaccinations with 68.1 per cent of those eligible in the North Yorkshire CCG area receiving a third dose along with 56.1 per cent in the Vale of York CCG area. Both figures are comfortably above the UK average.