Coronavirus West Berkshire: 'Treat everyone as if they have the virus'

Unknown if new strain is in Berkshire

People "need to be particular" and treat everyone as if they have coronavirus to prevent it from spreading, a senior health official has said.

West Berkshire moved from Tier 2 to the new Tier 4 at the weekend following a rapid increase in cases, coinciding with a new strain of the virus rapidly spreading across the south east.

Director of Public Health Berkshire West Meradin Peachey said there was a combination of the new strain and changing behaviour behind the increase in cases across the South East.

She said she thought that the sharp increase had been caused by “transmissions in households in the community”.

She said that viruses always mutated, which normally made them less transmissible, but the new strain had become more so.

At the moment it is unknown if that particular variant is in Berkshire, Mrs Peachey said.

Nevertheless, she said that people needed to keep following the guidelines, more now than ever.

She said: "Whether it's more transmissible or not, it's still transmitted the same way. They are not changing any of the guidance on the two metres or the 15-minute contact with people, it's still about keeping your distance.

"I think what's happening is people have taken their foot off the pedal in terms of being really particular, every day, every minute, which is what it takes. Keeping away from people, making sure that when you do your shopping you do your cleaning you wear your mask, you don't talk to people.

"I think it's very easy to not do it all the time. I think people are getting tired of it, that's a generic, and all of that added up together is why we have got these new tiers. If people are not able to do, very strictly, these measures then unfortunately the virus is going to spread out of control, which it has done."

Mrs Peachey said that the message needed to be treat everyone as though they had the virus, whether they have got symptoms or not.

She said: "The postman comes to the door and gives you a parcel, assume there's a virus. He's got it and it's on the box so when you touch it, wash your hands. It's being that particular to try and stop this virus from spreading unfortunately."

The roll out of the Pfizer vaccine began last week, with queues reported outside Tilehurst Village Surgery last Thursday.

Elsewhere in West Berkshire the Downland Practice in Chieveley – which is linked with the Strawberry Hill Medical Centre and Eastfield House GP practice in Newbury – said it would not be giving vaccinations just yet.

Mrs Peachey said there were gaps in the system and the complexity of the vaccine had played a part in the vaccine not being available everywhere.

She said: "The NHS are responsible for the vaccination programme. It had to be set up very quickly with a very difficult vaccine to transport.

"I think what happened with the NHS is they needed to identify mass vaccination sites, they needed to identify hospital sites for staff and others. They also wanted to work with primary care because they are the best place to do vaccinations, they have got the lists, they know the people, and they are used to doing flu vaccines.

"I think what's happened is the ones who came forward and can do it were the first ones and the Primary Care Networks were not in this area that came forward and were able to do it.

"Really, because they had to be set up so quickly, there's quite a lot of areas where there are gaps and we are one of them. Buckinghamshire is another one.

"I think it was a bit hit and miss but I think there's a second round of looking at sites and a bit more time to do some negotiations and to look at appropriate sites, so I think there's going to be more of a push with geography and trying to get it more equitable."

Mrs Peachey said that the constraints of the Pfizer vaccine may have been another factor.

The Pfizer vaccine has to be stored at -70 to -80 degrees, has to be used within five days when it's defrosted, once defrosted it can't be moved and 970 vaccines have to be used in those five days.

Mrs Peachey said: "That's the constraints of this one and some practices were not willing to take that responsibility and others were at that time. As with everything with primary care it takes negotiation, it takes time and there wasn't a lot of time to do that negotiation in the first wave.

"It is quite a difficult one this one. It will be a lot easier when the AstraZenica one comes onboard."