Warwickshire’s director of public health criticises 'unacceptable behaviour' of some young people and certain businesses as Covid-19 cases rise

Warwickshire’s director of public health admits the current increase in cases of Covid-19 is not totally unexpected but criticised the behaviour of some younger people and the owners of certain businesses.

Dr Shade Agboola made the statements during a virtual meeting of Warwickshire County Council’s Covid-19 engagement board today (Wednesday) - a meeting that involved health experts and councillors from a number of the county’s borough and district councils.

Dr Agboola explained that the latest figures for the pandemic showed that Rugby borough was the worst affected area in Warwickshire with 23.8 cases per 100,000 people and she added that the council’s mobile testing unit had been set-up in the town centre where it would remain until Saturday.

The rate per 100,000 people across the whole of Warwickshire was 13.67.

Dt Agboola said: “We are seeing an increase of cases in younger people and we have seen an increase in single cases in a range of pubs and schools within the last week. We have established a response team who are doing some fantastic work in our pubs and bars, providing information, advice and support as needed.

“What we are seeing is not entirely unexpected. The children went back to school last week, pubs are open and non essential businesses are open so rising numbers are not surprising. But what is obvious is an emerging trend that suggests that people are no longer adhering to the principles of social distancing.

“We have seen some unacceptable behaviour in young age groups especially when they congregate in pubs and the lack of cooperation from some establishments with the contact tracing process. So we are starting to look at messaging that is slightly more firm and hard-hitting.”

The county council’s Let’s Do It For Warwickshire campaign had already been tailored to Nuneaton and Dr Agboola explained that a Let’s Do It For Rugby campaign was about to be launched.

But she also admitted that a lack of resources was having an impact on some of the things health chiefs were trying to do to stem the spread of the virus.

Dr Agboola added: “Some challenges remain particularly with contact tracing as we simply do not have the resources and abilities to do the large scale tracing required.

“Single cases recorded in some of the pubs across the county have had a dozen or more contacts with one case having up to 19 contacts. We continue to lobby for additional resources and continue to do the best we can with what we have.”