Devon's hospitals less than half full

But health experts are pleading with visitors to stay away

Devon’s hospitals are less than 50 per cent full as the region is so far the least hit in England from coronavirus.

As of April 8, there have been 60,733 positive cases of COVID-19 in the UK, although the true figure is believed to be much higher.

Across the Devon County Council administrative area, there have only been 250 cases, with a further 64 in Torbay and 110 in Plymouth, and Devon County Council’s cabinet on Wednesday morning heard that the region has had fewer cases than others and that the hospitals were coping.

Dr Phil Norrey, the council’s chief executive, said that in terms of protecting the vulnerable and keeping the number of acute cases down, it was a ‘good news story’.

He said: “In Devon’s hospitals [RDandE in Exeter, North Devon and Torbay], they are at less than 50 per cent occupancy at the moment. They range between 43 and 48 per cent with Derriford in Plymouth at 52 per cent.

“On April 3, there were no delayed transfers of care at RDE. There was no-one in the hospital who didn’t need to be there, which is an extraordinary achievement.”

He added that if there was an increase of incidents of COVID-19 and hospital have to increases discharges of those require some sort of care and cannot be discharged to home, there were 200 beds being prepared to take discharges at Hilton Hotel at Exeter Airport, the Durrant House Hotel in Bideford, and the Fleet Care Home in Dartmouth.

Dr Norrey said that the council has contingency plans in other locations for 400 beds more if they were needed, but said “I don’t think we’ll need them.”

Dr Virginia Pearson, the Director of Public Health, added: “We have been very lucky in Devon that we have had fewer incidents of cases and deaths than other parts of the country, but that can change very quickly if people travel and don’t obey social distancing guidelines. It is essential we don’t have people down here over the Easter weekend.

“All the planning we have done is just for resident population and not for a massive intake of visitors. We have an older population and want to make sure our residents stay safe.

“In terms of comparisons with other regions, there is a different profile of the disease in the south west which shows impact of social distancing. We were just behind London and the Midlands but we can see social distancing is paying off.

“We are still expecting cases and additional deaths sadly but we want to maintain the current profile and reinforce the message to stay in your main homes and for people to not travel to the south west.”

Cllr John Hart, leader of the council, added that he was very unhappy with anyone who was not obeying the stay at home policy, who was travelling to the South West, or utilising their second home.

He said: “Devon and the South West is closed to holidaymakers. We will welcome you all back when we have sorted coronavirus, but at the present moment, if you come you stand a chance of bringing the virus to us and we don’t want it. You are supposed to stay in main home.”

He pleaded with businesses to stop advertising holidays and for those accepting holidaymakers to no longer do it.

Hotels, hostels, B&Bs, holiday rentals, campsites and caravan parks are among the businesses forced to close under Government guidelines to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Cllr Rob Hannaford, leader of the opposition Labour group, added: “It dangerous and irresponsible for people to be coming to second homes and it has to stop. We need more spot checks on the borders to be rigorously enforced. We are at the bottom of regional league table in terms of coronavirus and we want to stay that way.”

Cllr Frank Biederman, leader of the Independent group, said that any business who were still allowing holidaymakers to make bookings were a ‘disgrace’.

The council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills, Cllr Rufus Gilbert, said that Trading Standards had done a test with Bookings.com and sampled 25 per cent of businesses on their website and phoned them, and all of them said they were not accepting booking.

But he added: “With Airbnb, we have had no such assurances. We have written to them but are not expecting a reply. We will do everything that we can, but just because some businesses are advertising online, it doesn’t mean that they are taking bookings.”

Cllr Paul Crabb though said he had gone onto the Airbnb and would have been able to book a detached villa for 13 guests in Ilfracombe for next week, which showed that not everyone was obeying the rules.

The district councils have the responsibility to close down any businesses that are open illegally.