The sudden rise of scarlet fever and chicken pox in Wigan has prompted concern from the director of public health - something she has not seen in her 14-year tenure.
With staff absences in the NHS due to the rising Covid sub-variant of Omicron, the pressure is still on for health workers, which is why this rise in cases of other viruses is a cause for concern, according to Professor Kate Ardern, director of public health for Wigan.
According to the report she delivered to the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee, “rates of flu, scarlet fever, chickenpox, norovirus and other communicable diseases appear to be rising which will add pressure to local systems and confound our ability to track Covid due to the similarity in clinical presentation.”
