No new cases of COVID-19 have been identified anywhere on the Isle of Wight since 6th July, latest Government figures reveal.
Data from Public Health England shows that between Monday 6th July and Sunday 19th July, no individuals were identified as having coronavirus on the Island through Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 testing.
Although this data only goes up to 19th July, it was confirmed in an Isle of Wight Council Health and Wellbeing Board meeting yesterday (Thursday) that there had been no new cases on the Island over the past 7 days, between Thursday 16th and Thursday 23rd July.
Island Echo reported on 8th July that there had been no new cases in Isle of Wight care homes since the end of May.
This latest data suggests that the Isle of Wight could be almost completely free of COVID-19 with hospital testing, test-at-home kits, drive-through centres and care home testing failing to identify anyone with the potentially deadly virus in almost 3 weeks.
This positive news comes as the summer holidays begin and tourists start to flood the Isle of Wight for their UK getaways, offering a much-needed boost to the local economy.
According to the government in its weekly national surveillance report, overall case numbers and positivity are decreasing but the highest number of cases continued to be seen is in the older age groups, particularly those 85 and over.
It will be interesting to see just how quickly this changes, once the holiday makers start to arrive in greater numbers.
Spot on … holidaymakers will have seen that we were one of the lowest rates in UK so they think safe place to come – head over in their droves and probably not bother with masks for that reason.
Hello we are one of ‘them’ a holidaymaker. We came from an extremely low area of transmission in Wales. We have been self isolating.. working from home since March. I didnt want to come to the Island at this time and tried to change it to next year… but Holiday Co refused. Would have lost £1300 ! We came and have been very very careful .. hand sanitising before we go in anywhere and when we leave and actually we are wearing facemasks everywhere !!! We have avoided any crowded places..
They are already here, every holiday let on the island that is open is full
Half the huge numbers of car reg plates we’ve passed parked out along Mili Road and Freshwater in the past couple of weeks are from areas in the North of England which are currently Covid hotspots, so yeah, it won’t be long.
Maybe there’s a magnetic force that attracts them all down here? I often wonder what would be said if the same number of people from the Island suddenly upped sticks and decided to move to live in any area of Britain up north, like about half the number who have come to live here. I wonder if the locals there would notice and start to feel a little unsettled about it? Really though, because it’s a much larger area, they should hardly be noticed, they would be just swallowed up by the larger size of the area. Yet more and more people decide to settle permanently down here and we just don’t have the space left to accommodate them. Look how much of our green spaces have been lost already, and greedy developers still looking to destroy more land to build houses all over. And I expect a lot of this comes from people just coming for a holiday to begin with.
i have 3 cars and live on the island and none are HW (iow) cars so you can’t go by the reg of a car as to whether the people live here or not
Telling everyone that is like saying ‘Don’t bother with masks they’re not enforcing it anyway’
But masks do literally nothing
Including spreading the infection!
No doubt you’d be one of those idiots parroting “Trump bad” on twitter because of what The Guardian and BBC tell you.
There is overwhelming evidence they protect other people. This works if everyone wears them. Comments like this don’t help that.
Of course they don’t work, they have said they don’t work. Take the USA…for over two months now there has been protests. Covid cases are reaching up to 60,000 cases a day. But here’s what i don’t get, most of the protesters are wearing masks even gas masks. If you can blow out a candle or blow water through your mask covid can get through. If you can’t then how does air pass through? But people won’t see it, what they need to do is build up there immune system and social distance. Sweden and the countries around them are doing this
Yep… methinks this place is getting quite dangerous with all of it’s messages.
It’s actually saying the opposite. The current positive picture is informing residents that the virus being managed to date and to continue being sensible and protect themselves in the first instance.
With no testing what do you expect. It’s spreading like wildfire everywhere it’s gotten to. The island is full of holiday goers and the beaches are packed. You would be a fool to believe corona isn’t here. It’s probably rampant. It spread from a couple people in China to the entire world.
Yes, someone save us from this terrible virus that is tearing through our community, leaving only death and destruction in its wake. Especially after the much publicised ‘second wave’ once everyone went back to the pubs and the beaches. What will the ‘third wave’ bring – I shudder to think!
Was you in dad’s army we’re all doomed.
Echo Reader: I agree with you that the Island is not Covid free. There will always be a level of infection however small and the article headline is probably wrong to suggest it. However, your use of the words ‘spreading like wildfire’ and ‘rampant’ do not apply to the Island position. If it were true our NHS Trust would be over-run and our morgues overflowing. You come across as irrational and a bit of a scaremonger. Not helpful.
Where have you been? The beaches aren’t packed at all!
If people still believe the hype after all the lies,chopping and changing, and the evidence by the truck loads! If the people still believe the liars ( government) then we are all truly screwed! Because after this ,its vaccination time, chip! Game over!
It slaps them in the face and they still can’t see it! Even the simpsons saw this coming.. Dunn Dunn Dunn… but oh no it’s just a conspiracy by people who like to make this shit up for no reason what so ever! Wakey wakey rise and shine!
Muppet.
Wait and see,look forward to you eating your words! If I’m wrong,then yeah you can all laugh at me. If your wrong,we will all be crying, I kid you not! Let’s hope I’m wrong.
It really is time that people are aware of the facts. At the moment 1 in 2000 people per week in England have an active Covid-19 infection. If the Island ferries are carrying 10,000 passengers per week,which is a reasonable estimate, then up to 5 infectious passengers per week may be on the ferries. Given the close arrangements in the ferry saloons, lack of distancing etc. and all the possibilities for hand transmission, then those passengers will have a big R(0) number. This is completely unacceptable. Covid – 19 will come back to the Island. Not a question of if but when. This could easily be solved by a return to in car travel – far far safer as ship ferry accident statistics show. Lets keep Covid off our Island and insist on in car travel with obvious safety precautions. If we don’t the consequences for all on the Island will be disasterous.
Hi Paul. Where did you get your figure (fact) that there are 1 in 2000 people per week in England with an active infection?
As ever guesswork and ill informed comment is the order of the day on the Island over this pandemic. How I wish comments were made on the basis of well researched information. Check your facts first – ons.gov.uk covid survey – then apologise.
It must be all those white dots the Idiot of Wight Council painted, its scared it away, either that or someones’ twigged all those Island residential care home deaths with the Covid19 cause of death on their certificate stamp is like the Council and the rest of their not fit for purpose policies!
Some ridiculously negative comments being posted on here. This is a positive news article that reflects the general good job the IOW population have done so far in being sensible, respecting the rules and protecting themselves and others since lockdown measures were enforced. We should continue as we have been. Some have been moaning in posts for months that second homeowners and holidaymakers will spread Covid like wildfire – hasn’t happened so far so give them some credit as well.
This is excellent news. Let’s hope it stays this way. If residents and visitors alike are sensible, remember social distancing, wear a mask where appropriate and keep to the good hand hygiene regime, hopefully we might not get a ‘second wave of infection’ …!!!?? Hopefully!!!! If people don’t do as they are told now and think this virus is a load of bull, sadly, this virus will be with us for a long time and everyday ‘normality’ will not return anytime soon. Think and act appropriately!
Sadly ‘normality’ means noise, rowdiness, unruly, ignorant behaviour, resulting in worry and stress for those of us who would like to live in a more genteel, civilised society. Why should those of us who want to live in a more peaceful world, have to suffer because of other peoples’ ‘normal’? At least when the lockdown was in force, some of us saw our mental health improve and overall stress levels were a lot better. Why should we have to accept having to go back to living with constant stress and anxiety just so other people can go on behaving in the same old anti social way that has become normalised in British society? Not to mention how the environment improved and revived slightly for a little while in the respite it had, now sadly going backwards again. It was lovely to see so many wild flowers thriving looking so beautiful, now they are gone, all mowed down or weed killed by the council or whatever powers that be can’t stand to see wild flowers growing anywhere on public land.
The number of 1 in 2000 active Covid cases, with 95% confidence, comes from the office of national statistics – corona survey – ons.gov.uk. It’s easy to check the figure by looking at National infection rates. And yes it’s right
Thanks Paul. Wasn’t disputing the figures as your calculations are correct based on that ratio, just interested in the source. What I will say though is that your figures suggest that there are c.75 residents on the Island walking around with active Covid every week, however the virus has not spread. My point is that the number of people with Covid is not the issue but how responsible people are in abiding to the rules and protecting themselves and others. My experience of Wightlink is they are ensuring masks are worn and social distancing takes place and passengers are conducting themselves in line with those restrictions.
No you can’t make that assumption. The 2000 is an average number – for example in Blackburn at the moment its 250! The number on the Island is either zero or close to it. That’s why there’s no new cases here for 2 weeks. Please look at articles on Covid transmission in closed spaces as well such as passenger spaces in ships. No matter what the ferries try to do the R(0) number for infected passengers will be high. I’ve had many reports of risky behaviour on the ferries. The only answer is in car travel or on deck travel for those without a car. We must keep Covid off the Island and thats the best that can be done apart from banning visitors.
Paul, I made that assumption because you yourself made a generalised calculation on the number of people potentially travelling over on ferries based on the 1:2000 ratio. You maybe now see the flaw in your own argument. You do not know Covid is not on the Island, just as you do not know people are travelling over with it. It does not matter whether Wightlink hold passengers in lounges or in cars, if there are passengers with Covid they will arrive on the Island and have the potential to spread it hence my point that we can only trust people to abide by the rules. Unfortunately you will always get the odd idiot who doesn’t care but that can apply anywhere in the country.
If there were 75 people on the Island with Covid then we would be seeing new cases. None for 14 days. Its very highly infectious so it’s extremely likely its almost gone from here for the moment. It will come back on the ferries as it arrived. You clearly don’t understand or have not researched the propagation of this disease in closed spaces especially on ships.. Remember the Diamond Princess? Stay safe and keep off the ferries.
Sorry Paul my final points on this. The report is that there are no new recorded cases of Covid on the Island. These cases are only confirmed through a positive Covid test conducted on hospital admission if sufficiently ill with suspected Covid or formal road testing centres if you believe you have symptoms. There are people who have Covid but who are asymptomatic or show minor symptoms and do not think to have a test but are Covid active. It is mask wearing and social distancing that helps stop this spread. You cannot therefore say Covid does not exist on the Island for sure as testing is not sufficiently widespread to confirm it. Your 1:2000 ratio supports this.
You cannot say in one sentence how infectious Covid is and then claim it does not exist on the Island particularly as people have been travelling to and from our shores for weeks since lockdown rules were lifted, including many, many Island residents travelling on ferries to work and visiting relatives on the mainland each day. The Diamond Princess…not a great example Paul, a cruise ship in mid-voyage with a capacity of 2,500 passengers and 1,100 crew, no prior awareness of the disease or how to manage it, no face masks and no social distancing, no rules. A far cry from a short ferry trip with full awareness of the virus by passengers and crew and social restrictions and conditions in place. I’m afraid your argument lacks any credibility.
Sorry just to be clear, 1 in 250 people in Blackburn are infected and I suspect 0 in 140,000 people on the Island are infected.! Apologies if thats not clear. The social distance measures etc. got us to this point – let’s not have Covid back!
This doesn’t ring true. Firstly, I know of whole businesses struggling as so many staff have gone off sick with Covid in the last two or three weeks. Secondly, a BBC News article, published today, covering UK coastal areas mentioned explicitly that there was ‘no data available’ from the Isle of Wight. No data doesn’t mean no cases, it simply means the figures are missing in action.
Please don’t be fooled I had three test which came back negative and I’m still recovering from the effects of covid 19, 12 weeks later my surgery agreed that there was 30 percent of his patients being given a negative after testing and when retested came back positive.
thankfully I listened ti 111 Hub and out of hours GP. I had no cough nor fever
but had headaches no sense od smell or tastebuds and sever fatigue