The pandemic tightened its grip on the whole country, our local area and sadly our people at Strada Care. We endured outbreaks at two of our houses in December and January.
There was an outbreak at our Ashtead supported living service over Christmas, and sadly the indiscriminate Covid 19 virus took one of our own, an elderly lady who had lived with us since 2011. Within one week, she became unwell, was admitted to Epsom General and lost her battle to the virus on New Year’s Day. Fortunately the other two tenants living with her were spared any symptoms, though some staff did fall ill, and we are pleased to say they have all recovered well enough to return to work. This lady was indeed one of our brightest lights, and she is missed by some many people who knew her. On Tuesday 16th February, we paid our respects at her funeral, and despite the pandemic, many people came to attend within the 30 person limit.
It is very upsetting that despite so much hard work and determination by the staff and the company since March 2020 to keep the virus out, that it still managed to spread.
Fortunately, like the rest of country, we have reason to be more optimistic with the vaccine rollout at nearly 20 million, and the falling infection rates locally.
Nation-wide, newly confirmed cases per 100,000 have decreased from 129.7 to 115.35
- Locally, newly confirmed cases per 100,000 have continued to fall from 121.71 to 75.31; For some context, the last time numbers were this low was the 15th October – Two weeks into the rapid rise in rates that led to the winter lockdown.
- Locally, the total number of confirmed cases has increased from 6.45% to 6.52% of the local population, Croydon is at 7.5%.
- Locally, the number of deaths remains high but has reduced slightly from 449 to 381.
- Locally, on average 2.89% of the confirmed cases have now died. Again, Mole Valley and Reigate & Banstead remain significantly higher at 4.78% and 4.19%, respectively.
- Locally, new hospital admissions continue to decline and are now at levels equivalent to early.
We are very proud to have achieved a 90% vaccination rate with our staff team, much higher than most providers in social care. We have also had a good rollout of the vaccine to the majority of our clients. We continue to invest in PPE, and continuously improve our infection control procedures. We must remain vigilant if we are to bring an end to this pandemic soon. We shall continue to hold Zoom meetings with loved ones, and hope to allow visiting soon in line with government guidelines.
We would like to thank all the staff for their continued diligence and hard work.