Covid research plan
More research into Inverclyde’s high covid-19 death rate is set to be carried out.
The news comes as cabinet secretary for health and sport, Jeane Freeman MSP, has given a commitment that Public Health Scotland will carry out further research into data for Inverclyde.
Inverclyde has the highest death rate to covid-19 of any council area in the country and, following the latest weekly release of data from National Records of Scotland, the area has nearly 15 deaths per 10,000 population.
Earlier this month the council’s Chief Executive wrote to the cabinet secretary looking for more answers following a review by councillors of a Greater Glasgow and Clyde report which concluded that an early outbreak and bad luck were the likely causes.
At the time the council leader, Councillor Stephen McCabe, said: “While the report we have received provides some answers it does not provide all of them. As a community, we must have more than a conclusion that bad luck or chance played a part.”
“In Inverclyde, we have been hit in recent years by a triple whammy with continued reducing population, the SIMD figures and now the impact of Covid-19. While other parts of the country are affected by some of these, it is clear that more is required for our area to aid recovery and beyond that to make sure that we are more resilient going forward.”
Now he has welcomed the further examination by Public Health Scotland and a recognition that different parts of the country are being impacted differently by the pandemic and that deprivation is a significant contributor to this.
He said; “The commitment by the cabinet secretary and Public Health Scotland is to be welcomed. The recovery of not just Inverclyde but other parts of the country is likely to be impacted by the outcomes of more detailed examination of the factors that have led to our area having right from the beginning and throughout this pandemic the highest proportion of deaths.