Coronavirus update
- New mass vaccination sites open at the Salt Hill Centre in Slough and near Wembley Stadium today, becoming our nearest mass vaccination sites. Patients at our two main GP surgeries, Penn and Highfield in Hazlemere, are being offered jabs at Adams Park, Wycombe Wanderers football ground, but from tomorrow can book at the Slough site if preferred (only on invitation from the NHS). Vaccinations at Adams Park have been unaffected even though the football club has had to cancel its fixtures this week because of a Covid outbreak.
- The number of new Covid cases is continuing to fall locally. In the Wycombe area, which includes Tylers Green and Hazlemere, there were 793 new cases in the week up to yesterday afternoon compared to 1,274 the previous week. In the Chiltern area, which includes Penn, there were 343 new cases compared to 461 and in the South Bucks area, which includes Beaconsfield, 318 new cases compared to 593. The number of deaths of those who tested positive for Covid in the previous 28 days totalled 35 in the three areas last week compared to 44 the week before.
- Hospital admissions of new cases are also showing signs of decreasing, although our three main local hospitals, Wycombe, Stoke Mandeville and Wexham Park are still on very high alert and are suffering badly from staff absences, either from staff members who have contracted Covid or are self-isolating.
- Rubbish bin collections are being hit because of staff shortages due to Covid, although waste disposal crews made a special Sunday collection in the village yesterday to catch up.
- Residents at Alde House old people’s home in Church Road, Penn have all been vaccinated.
- John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford has applied to build a five storey block which would triple the number of beds for intensive care patients to “support future pandemic and seasonal pressures.” The unit, if approved, would serve some people in Buckinghamshire as well as those in Oxfordshire.
Briefly…
Hit and run – Police are appealing for witnesses after a car drove into two women crossing the Beaconsfield Road in Farnham Common last Thursday at 5pm and drove off without stopping. The women were treated in hospital. The car was a light coloured hatchback.
The force is with us – A massive film set being constructed in a former quarry at Little Marlow could be there for three years villagers have been told. It’s being built by Disney for Star Wars spin-offs on the life of Obi-Wan Kenobi and will star Ewan McGregor. Filming is due to begin in March.