Chapter 3: The direct impact of COVID-19 in Gateshead
Covid-19 in numbers in Gateshead
The statistics help to show the big picture, but we mustn't forget that behind every number lies a human story.
13,772 Covid-19 cases (12 March 2020 to 30 April 2021)
499 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate (23 March 2020 to 30 April 2021)
1433 Covid-19 hospitalisations at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead (23 March 2020 to 30 April 2021)
Between March 2020 and the end of April 2021, we experienced two Covid-19 epidemic 'waves'. The first wave started in March 2020 and ended at the end of May 2020. The second wave started at the beginning of September 2020 and ended at the end of April 2021 (ONS, 2021).
(ONS (2021) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey technical article: waves and lags of COVID-19 in England, June 2021 (opens new window))
Confirmed Covid-19 cases (Gov.uk (2021)
(GOV.UK Coronavirus data, people vaccinated (opens new window)) (ONS (2021) Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2020-april-2021- geography (opens new window))
| Gateshead | North East | England | |
| Wave 1 12 March 2020 to 31 May 2020. There was limited community testing during wave 1 in the community so actual case numbers in Wave 1 are underrepresented. | 1 in 163 people with Covid-19 | 1 in 189 people with Covid-19 | 1 in 260 people with Covid-19 |
| Wave 2 1 September 2020 to 30 April 2021 | 1 in 16 people with Covid-19 | 1 in 15 people with Covid-19 | 1 in 16 people with Covid-19 |
In the first wave, the rate of confirmed Covid-19 cases was higher in Gateshead than in the North East as a whole, and England.
In the second wave, the rate of confirmed cases was in parallel with England, but slightly lower than the North East as a whole.
The first wave peaked at a seven day rolling rate of 122 cases per 100,000 residents of Gateshead on 10th April 2020. The second wave peak, on 4th January 2021, was over three times higher than this at 479 cases per 100,000. However, this was lower than England and the North East (Gov.Uk, 2021) 10 (ONS, 2021). (ONS (2021) Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2020-april-2021- geography, ONS filter outputs 2021 (opens new window))
Hospitalisations
| Number of patients treated | percentage of all diagnosed cases in Gateshead | |
| Wave 1 | Approximately 500 | Approximately 40% |
| Wave 2 | Approximately 900 | Approximately 7% |
Due to the time lag of cases arriving at hospital, Wave 1 at the QE hospital took place between 23 March 2020 to 31 August 2020 and Wave 2 occurred from 1 September 2020 to 30 April 2021 Hospitalisation data provided by Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Deaths
During Wave 1, there were 237 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate (18% of all diagnosed cases). In Wave 2, the number was 262 deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate (2% of all diagnosed cases). In Wave 2, more deaths took place in hospitals and less in care homes. (ONS (2021) Death registrations and occurrences by local authority and health board.)
Excess deaths were also experienced in two waves. In Wave 1, the number of excess deaths far exceeded the average for the five years, 2015-2019, with a high proportion of these excess deaths attributable to Covid-19.13 Excess deaths in Wave 2 were much lower, as was the proportion attributable to Covid-19. A high number of deaths is sometimes followed by a period of below-average deaths, due to vulnerable people and those with pre-existing conditions dying sooner than expected. Although there is some evidence of this, this displacement does not account for the excess mortality seen at the beginning of the pandemic, suggesting Covid-19 affected more people than just those who were expected to die in the following days, weeks and months. (4 ONS (2021) Excess mortality and mortality displacement in England and Wales: 2020 to mid-2021. ONS Covid-19 effect on death occurrences (opens new window))
