Why Slough has the second highest Covid-19 infection rate in England

Despite the borough’s Covid-19 cases per 100,000 falling, albeit at a slow rate, it still remains at a high 1,019.1 and is nearly reaching a total of 12,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.

Only Knowsley in Merseyside has a higher infection rate than Slough, standing at 1,069 per 100,000 population.

During a Covid-19 update at a Britwell Parish Council meeting on January 20 (Wednesday), councillor Robert Anderson (Labour: Britwell and Northborough), cabinet member for transport and environmental services, said: “We’ve been an outlier in Berkshire and we’re fast becoming an outlier in the whole country.

“There’s still issues around some actions in common with other places that the lockdown wasn’t as severe as the first one. Whether that’s contributing to our high rate, we don’t know. It’s simply trying to reinforce the messages about people not gathering and treating it much more seriously.”  

READ MORE: Slough wards with the HIGHEST and LOWEST Covid-19 cases (January 21)

He added 1,000 people have been tested on the lateral flow tests – which tests people who are asymptomatic – and are looking at rolling it out for businesses so they can test their staff.

Out of the first 250 people the council tested, only seven people tested positive who had no idea they had Covid-19.

A spokesperson for Slough Borough Council said it’s always been “very, very difficult” for the borough as the area has a dense population with a lot of the residents working as key workers and front-facing roles, exposing them to Covid-19.

Some of these public-facing jobs take place at Wexham Park Hospital, Heathrow Airport, supermarkets, taxi drivers and small independent essential businesses.

Covid-19 cases by Slough ward between Jan 8 and 14

They said: “Slough has always had community transmission and there’s always has been community transmission between households – but whereas before if you had one person in a house who had it [Covid-19] and you’re careful, you would probably or possibly not transmit the virus to the rest of the household.

“Pretty much now if one person has it then everyone has it.

“All of these things mean our numbers were higher beforehand and now end up higher and take a while for that impact to come down because there are people who are essential workers and still working and there’s a large number of kids still in school and people continue to mix.”

Last December, the chief executive of Slough Borough Council, Josie Wragg, put down the high infection rate to some people becoming “complacent and seemingly unworried” about the virus.

The spokesperson did acknowledge some people are still not following the guidance – but said these individuals are a “minority” and have seen more people wearing masks.

There are currently 105 Slough residents in hospital due to Covid-19 with an average age of just 61.

In the week ending January 1, another 12 Slough residents died of the virus and in the week ending January 8 – the latest data – another 13 Slough locals died of the coronavirus.

READ MORE: Covid vaccination rate must double to lift lockdown by May

Because Slough is the second most infected area in the country, the Observer asked if the army will be involved with the mass vaccination or testing programme.

The spokesperson said: “We had some military planning support in getting it set up – but other than people doing the tests who are medical people, we have an absolute army of volunteers who are just fantastic in helping.

“We did a call out for volunteers recently and we got 600 volunteers in a week.”

Recently, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced and praised Slough’s health care team for vaccinating all of the town’s care home residents and staff, calling them a “model that all can look to”.

The council stressed for everyone to continue following the guidance and the Government’s ‘stay at home’ message.

They also urged residents to continue following social distancing, wearing face masks and washing hands regularly.