The county of Kent has been highlighted as a high risk area as the coronavirus infection rate remains high.
Although Kent’s infection rate of 13.5 is nowhere near the highest in the country, which are Leicester 140.2 and Bradford 69.4, it still makes it into the top 40. The government are warning that Leicester-style shutdowns could be ‘just days away’ for other places ahead of the biggest step back to normal life with people planning trips to pubs to celebrate ‘Super Saturday’.
Thankfully, the rate in Kent does seem to be on the decline, but that could easily change over the coming weeks as more people venture out. Ashford is still seen as the main ‘hotbed’ of infections within Kent, with Medway not far behind.
the areas hardest hit do not have the largest populations
Location now seems to be an important indicator to the higher transmission rates. Locations that likely have higher numbers of individuals with jobs that can’t be done remotely, or that have a high reliance on public transport rather than personal transportation, or that have higher proportions of key workers in logistics or transport are those that are struggling.
Deprived areas become places of infection as people are more likely to have to go to work, less likely to be able to work from home, and more likely to use public transport. Areas such as Medway and Ashford are good examples of this theory. Infections may have dropped at a faster rate in London because there are more white collar jobs there, therefore more employees were able to work from home and isolate from others.
There will be many keeping an eye on the infection rates over the next few weeks to see if the easing measures are working or if there is a rise in the infection rate again.
