Report Reveals Number in Chiswick Who Have Had Covid-19


Over 2,000 people in W4 have tested positive since start of pandemic

Mobile testing centre in Sainsbury's car park
Mobile testing centre in Sainsbury's car park

A new report has published more details on the impact of Covid-19 in Chiswick showing the total number of people testing positive for the disease since the start of the pandemic.

Up to 29 January, 1699 people caught the virus in the three Chiswick council wards in Hounslow borough. The number of people infected in Southfield ward which encompasses the part of Chiswick in Ealing borough will bring the total to over 2.000 for the W4 post code area.

Chiswick Riverside ward has had 526 infections, Chiswick Homefields 577 and Turnham Green 596. These are the three lowest numbers for positive tests across Hounslow borough. The highest is Hounslow Central with 1,589.

The number of cases in the borough rocketed by 158% between 20 December 2020 and 29 January 2021 from 8,373 to 21,643.

The report, which was presented to the borough’s Health and Wellbeing Board which met on 2 February looks at demographic factors in the spread of the disease and how they have led to divergent infection rates across the borough. It find links with housing density, the prevalence of multi-generational housing and economic deprivation. In terms of ethnicity there was a high prevalence of the disease in the Asian community.

Only 15% of those infected are over 60 with the largest proportion catching the disease in the 31-49 age group.

Borough mortality figures show that the death toll has been the largest in the Asian community with 91 fatalities out of 209 up to the end of November. The figures show that the black population of the borough have been hardest hit proportionately by Covid-19 deaths among younger people with no underlying health conditions with 9 out of the 15 people who died in that category.


Source: Hounslow Council


Source: Hounslow Council

Although weekly infection rates have declined from peak levels, Hounslow remains a hot spot for the virus in London with an infection rate of 432 per 100,000 in the week to 30 January second only to Ealing.

Hounslow Borough has set up rapid testing sites for people without Covid-19 symptoms at three sites in the borough which are open every day from 8am-4pm at Hounslow House, Heston Library and Isleworth Library. The nearest test centre for Chiswick residents is the one provided by Ealing Council at Acton Library. A mobile test facility was operating from Sainsbury’s car park in Chiswick this Friday (5 February) without being publicised in advance by Hounslow Council. It is not known if this will be returning and the council is suggesting following its Twitter account to get notified.

Concerns that Chiswick’s low infection rate is just a function of the lack of local testing facilities have been dismissed. A local GP said of the report, “There is lots of new information in this document, some of it quite alarming. There have been some desperately tragic cases here in Chiswick but we have got off relatively lightly. Although the report gives a very good explanation of the advantages this area has that explain the relatively low rates, I think generally good observance of the rules has been hugely helpful in W4.

“I don’t think lower availability of testing explains the lower rate of infections. The proportion of positive tests of those taken allows you to rule this out as a factor.”

The latest weekly infection rates published by the ONS show a sharp fall across the Chiswick area with the number of cases more than halving in most districts in the week to 1 February. The Chiswick South West area only had 8 positive tests a fall of 57.9% to an infection rate per 100,000 of 95.3. The highest rate of infection is in the Bedford Park area currently but this has also fallen substantially from peaks and is only marginally above other areas.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) divide the country into ‘Middle Super Output Areas’ (MSOAs) of roughly equal population size and these are used in the publication of infections at a local level.

Covid-19 Cases in the week to 1 February

Area

Cases

Cases per 100,000
(Seven Day Rolling Rate)

Change (%)

Total Deaths (March - December)

Bedford Park

16

232.2

-30.4

3

Chiswick South East

19

212.0

-9.5

6

Chiswick North West

13

191.5

-60.6

7

Chiswick Park

17

190.1

-46.9

11

Chiswick North East

13

153.2

-31.6

7

Chiswick South West

8

95.3

-57.9

5

Source: ONS

Map showing the areas from the table above
Map showing the areas from the table above

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

February 14, 2021