THERE is a need for a vaccination centre in Falmouth as Covid cases continue to rise following the G7 summit when thousands of police and journalists descended on the town.
Falmouth county councillor and leader of the Labour group Jayne Kirkham says it will become clearer over the next week whether the G7 is responsible for the spike in cases in Falmouth, St Ives and Newquay but the need to take action is now.
She said she is more concerned about what happens next to deal with the spike.
"We need people to abide by hands, face and space, we need more capacity for more frequent testing and a vaccination centre in Falmouth," she told the Packet.
"After hospitality opened up more on May 17 there were bound to be more cases in the unvaccinated younger population who work in the hospitality industry in Falmouth.
"We then had half term and the weeks before G7 of the set up and personnel coming down. People came from all over the country and indeed the world to the media centre.
"Cornwall put on a fantastic G7. Press had to show negative lateral flow results before they got into the media centre, but not into Falmouth. I hope and assume that quarantine rules applied just as much to the press coming from overseas as everyone else.
"There does look to be a correlation, [between the G7 and the rise in Covid cases] but the figures over the next week will probably show a clearer picture."
Last week Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for health told the Isles of Scilly leadership board that the current spike of Covid-19 cases in Cornwall was not linked to the G7 summit.
Andy Virr, Conservative member for Fowey, Tywardreath and Par, made the comments at a meeting last Friday afternoon.
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The board received an update on Covid-19 from Dr Ruth Goldstein, public health consultant at Cornwall Council.
But before that Cllr Virr wanted to address concerns that have been raised that the current increase in cases was linked to last week’s summit of world leaders in Carbis Bay.
He said: “More will be said about this later but G7 was not the cause of this new spike.”
However there has been increasing disquiet about the links between the G7 summit when thousands of policeman from all over the UK and journalists from all over the world descended on Falmouth, St Ives and Newquay, with some accusing the government of a cover-up.
All those towns have seen a huge spike in numbers while other parts of the county have remained static.
As an overall town Falmouth has the highest amount in Cornwall, with 130 cases reported across its three clusters in the same time period.
This is broken down into 51 in Falmouth East (up from two, at rate increase of 2,450.0%), 57 in Falmouth North (up from two, at a rate increase of 2,750.0%, and 22 in Falmouth West & South (up from two, at a rate increase of 1,000.0%).
St Ives & Halsetown has seen weekly cases rise to 60 in the seven days leading up to Monday last week (June 14), from two in the preceding week, at rate increase of 2,900%.
Newquay has a total of 53 cases (Newquay West up from five to 26, a rise of 420% and Newquay East, up from four to 27 at rise of 575%).
In a thread on Twitter, Cornish historian Bernard Deacon said: "Those towns - St Ives, Falmouth and Newquay - also just happen to be the precise places where G7 staff were most active. An astonishing coincidence! The evidence that the preparations for G7 acted as a super-spreader is overwhelming, while the official line is just not credible."
A G7 police taskforce was present as early as May 12 when they paid a visit to a local activist. Footpaths were closed and movement was being monitored by June 1. 5,000 police alone were drafted in from all over England, although exactly when is unknown for 'security' reasons
— Bernard Deacon (@bernarddeacon) June 20, 2021
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