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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released the latest data from their COVID-19 Infection Survey .
Dr Daniel Lawson, Senior Lecturer in Statistical Science, School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, said:
“The ONS surveys are the most robust data available as they are based on randomised samples. They are not perfect as not everyone responds to the survey, but it is as good as we can get.
“Interpretation is difficult because an individual’s chances of infection depend not only on their own behaviour, but that of their whole community. From these data we cannot separate an individual’s choices and demographics from varying averages of these across the nation. Despite that, the results are helpful.
“These results robustly show rising infection rates are focussed on a subset of the population, younger, wealthier, white people. Whilst current infections are highest in this demographic, historical infection rates from antibody tests show that black and Asian people have also been widely infected earlier in the pandemic.
“The current increase associates with number of social contacts and international travel. This all fits a picture that, on average, younger, wealthier, white people had more social contacts over the summer. This survey period included the relaxation of restrictions in pubs and restaurants, where the population was encouraged to spend whilst meeting in public venues.
“The take home message is that total numbers of social contacts still need to be limited to control the virus.”
All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:
www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19
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