Covid cases higher among York’s students, new figures show

Students at the University of York make up 12% of Covid-19 cases within York – compared to 9% of the wider city population.

More than 1,350 students have contracted the virus since the university returned in September, compared to more than 12,500 city-wide – this accounts for 7% of all students testing positive, while the figure remains at 6% for York as a total.

Patrick O’Donnell, the president of the University of York’s Student Union (YUSU), notes that spread within student circles is aided by necessitated “overcrowded” shared living, alongside their work “on the front line”, where they do not have “the pleasure of being able to work from home”.

These figures are taken since 1 October 2020, when students returned to campus for their first term.

Over the last week, there have been 44 new positive cases within the student community, nearly 20% of the new cases reported across York.

This comes as York’s COVID-19 rate hit 83.1 cases per 100,000 on Monday 21 June, only marginally below the national average of 85.5.

At York St John University, only seven members of the 8,400 strong community have reported to the university that they are self isolating after a positive test.

Self isolating

While the University of York figure may appear high, over the last week the University of Durham reported 262 cases, 34% of positive tests in the entirety of County Durham, despite only making up 3% of the population.

Indeed, these figures may be in part due to vaccination rates. According to figures gathered by Public Health Scotland, and published in the Lancet, Pfizer vaccinations are 79% protective against infection, with AstraZeneca being 60%.

According to NHS England, on June 21 9,025 under-25 year olds had been vaccinated in York, since over-18s became eligible on June 18.

O’Donnell commented further that “The vast majority of students have played their part to keep themselves, their friends and wider community safe. Those students who are isolating as a precaution at home during the last week of the academic year are to be commended.”

The University of York opened a testing centre on February 1, followed by a rapid testing centre, and a pop-up vaccination clinic in York Sport Centre.

Dr Abbie Brooks, a Lead GP at the University of York’s vaccination centre, said that the excitement of students to get vaccinated is “palpable”

Sharon Stoltz, York City Council’s Director of Public Health, told student newspaper York Vision that this “partnership approach” between the University and city efforts was a “silver lining” of the pandemic period, while “we couldn’t run our testing sites without the help of students”.