Coronavirus is causing 1 in 3 deaths in Bristol, with care homes on front line

ALMOST one in every three deaths in Bristol was due to coronavirus, in the latest weekly figures released today.

The Office for National Statistics said that 43 of the 143 residents who died in the week ending on April 24 had COVID-19 listed as a cause of death - just over 30%.

The figures also show that Bristol’s care homes are on the front line of the crisis, with more people – 23 – dying with confirmed coronavirus in care homes than in hospital (17) during the same week.

In the ONS figures for the year so far, 153 people in Bristol have died with confirmed cases of COVID-19 – around 11% of the total of 1,412 deaths – while 92 of the 940 deaths in neighbouring South Gloucestershire have also been coronavirus-related.

And figures from the Care Quality Commission show that the number of people in care homes who are dying of COVID-19 is likely to be higher than the ONS figures.

The CQC figures are from reports made to the regulator by care home managers immediately after someone dies and are more up to date than those relating to registered deaths.

Crucially, while the ONS only counts deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate towards its total, the CQC also includes suspected cases where no positive test was carried out.

So while the ONS figures for the two weeks to April 24 show 48 deaths from COVID-19 of Bristol residents in care homes, the CQC figures for the same fortnight indicate 59 cases where the disease was either confirmed or suspected.

The CQC figures report that 22 care home residents died of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 last week (ending May 1).

That figure was down from 31 the previous week and 28 the week before that.

In total, the CQC has recorded 82 deaths in Bristol care homes and 27 in South Gloucestershire care homes since it began to count them.

The ONS has recorded 73 deaths of Bristol residents from COVID-19 in hospital, with 69 in care homes, 6 at home and 5 in other places, including hospices.

For South Gloucestershire residents the figures are 55 deaths in hospital from COVID-19, 31 in care homes and six at home.

The ONS figures show that, during the week ending on April 24, one in every five deaths in South Gloucestershire – 18 out of 82 – were with coronavirus.

The most recent total for coronavirus deaths in the UK, counting people who died with a positive test result confirmed by a public health or NHS laboratory, stands at 29,427, as of 5pm today.

Figures published by the NHS today showed that, as of this afternoon, 91 people had died with COVID-19 in hospitals run by North Bristol NHS Trust, which runs Southmead, and 75 had died in hospitals run by University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Bristol Royal Infirmary and other city centre hospitals, a total of 166.