Covid-19 Impact On Local Areas
Has My Local Area Been Affected?
The short answer is yes, every community has. The pandemic has impacted the UK and all countries. Following on from our post last week which detailed the impact on local communities via local council areas.
This post works in a very different way as the office of national statistics has provided a more detailed report.
What Is A Middle Layer Super Output Area?
A middle layer super output area defined by Wikipedia as:
A Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) is a geospatial statistical unit. Used in England and Wales to facilitate the reporting of small area statistics. They consist of contiguous Lower Layer Super Output Areas. They are part of the ONS coding system created by the Office for National Statistics. The mean population of a MSOA is 7,200, with a minimum population of 5,000.
How It Works
For the general understanding of how it works, it is a created area of postcodes. Instead of unbalanced areas like wards or local councils where household numbers will fluctuate. Middle layer super output areas numbers are limited, to a pre defined number. This provides a true reflection of a local areas.
Following Local Area Data
As we move into the next phase of combating Covid-19 and tracking its decline. It is inevitable localised spikes of infection will occur. Hopefully not resulting in a national lockdown. A recent report is that Leicester will be one of the first local areas to combat a rise in infection.
Another key factor in the reporting of local areas is the density of population. The office for national statistics has also been tracking the data for towns and cities.
Local Area - By Conurbation
Conurbation defines the difference between rural and urban areas. It details the different housing sparsity and location for analytical and policy purposes. Areas with 10,000 resident population are urban areas. They are split into major conurbations, minor conurbations. Rural areas are towns, villages, and hamlets.
Looking Beyond Local Areas
The highest age-standardised mortality rate involving covid-19 was in urban major conurbations, with 123.5 deaths per 100,000 population, statistically significantly higher than all other categories. The next two highest rates were also statistically significantly different to all other categories: urban minor conurbations had 96.1 deaths per 100,000 population, and urban cities and towns had 74.4 deaths per 100,000 population. The lowest rates were all found in sparse settings; rural hamlets and isolated dwellings in a sparse setting had the lowest age-standardised mortality rate at 22.2 deaths per 100,000 population.
Infection Rates
For all areas, the age-standardised mortality rate involving covid-19 decreased in May compared with April. The largest decrease was in urban major conurbations which fell by 73.9% from 84.0 deaths per 100,000 population in April to 21.9 deaths per 100,000 population in May.
Of the 111 major towns and cities (excluding London), the highest age-standardised mortality rate of deaths involving covid-19 was in Salford, with a rate of 199.6 deaths per 100,000 population. The lowest rate was 8.9 deaths per 100,000 population in Hastings.