Covid bulletin #59: Are we over the peak?

Jul 29, 2021 | Sector & policy

This is the 59th of a series of bulletins produced by ISE to update members on key data and policy related to Covid-19. This bulletin covers the period 16th July – 28th July 2021.

You can access all of the Covid-19 bulletins on ISE insights.

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Latest Covid-19 data

Data taken from Wikipedia and from the government’s Covid-19 dashboard.

The UK has now had over 5.7 million identified Covid-19 cases and 153,000 deaths (with Covid on the death certificate).

After a period of rapid growth the number of cases has levelled out and started to fall, leading some to argue that the wave has peaked. Graham Medley (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) says maybe, but we’ll have to see how things unfold over the next few weeks. Paul Hunter (University of East Anglia) looks at what might happen next.

The number of deaths has now been rising for eight weeks.

Covid news

Data from the government’s Covid-19 dashboard.

Despite the growing number of people who are vaccinated, cases continue to grow. However, Jamie Hartmann-Boyce (University of Oxford) argues that this isn’t because the vaccine isn’t working.
The decision not to vaccinate young people leads Devi Srihar (University of Edinburgh) to wonder whether Covid will become a disease of the young.
The government’s Chief Medical Officer says that if cases rise to the point that it causes problems for the NHS restrictions may have to be introduced/re-introduced.

Education

Demand for university continues to surge, but Mark Corver (dataHE) wonders whether universities will be able to keep up.
Debate is raging about whether students need to be vaccinated before they can attend lectures.
The Career Development Institute have produced a briefing on the new statutory guidance for career education and guidance. Meanwhile, a new cross-party report from Policy Connect has argued that the career education and guidance system in England needs to be simplified and improved in the wake of the pandemic.

The economy

There seems to be some good news for the UK economy. EY argue that it is growing at its fastest rate for 80 years.
International travel remains highly disrupted leading some to argue for reduced restrictions.

The labour market

New data on the graduate labour market has led to a flurry of debate and discussion. David Kernohan (WONKHE) suggest that this shows that the impact of the pandemic on graduate jobs was not as great as initially feared. Gabi Binnie (AGCAS) explores whether short term setbacks are turning into long term scars.
Charlie Ball offers his graduate labour market update for 20th July.
There are concerns about who has lost out during the pandemic. This has lead to a range of reports and proposals to improve things. The Youth Employment Group have launched a new set of recommendations to improve employment, education and training for young people. While the Social Mobility Commission argue that working-class young men are most likely to have lost out.
The TUC argue that the easing of restrictions should not be accompanied by a loosening of Covid-safety measures in the workplace.

Changing patterns of work

While it is not yet clear how many organisations will be getting people to return to the office, the government has greenlighted this move. Helen Hodgetts and Nick Perham (Cardiff Metropolitan University) ask how you can you stay focused when you are working with other people again?