Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths in the last two days, but there has been one confirmed for May 4, in the latest statistics released by NHS England.

Meanwhile, the hospital has announced it has now discharged 82 patients after treatment for coronavirus.

#thankyouNHS pic.twitter.com/JisKnaEobX

— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) May 7, 2020

Hospitals across the North East and Yorkshire reported another 40 deaths in today’s figures, with 383 deaths across England.

Patients were aged between 28 and 100 years old. 41 of the 383 patients, who were aged between 28 and 96 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

However, while the number of deaths at the hospital appears to be slowing down the number of deaths in care homes is rising according to weekly data from the Office for National Statistics.

Last week, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals.

This week, the data goes up to April 24 and now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

A Harrogate firm has been labelled as disgraceful for selling medical face masks for up to three times the price of its competitors.

Following a tip-off, an investigation by the Stray Ferret found that Change Mobility has been listing five masks for £17.99 – £3.60 per mask.

The masks are graded as Type II and are normally destined for care homes or hospitals to protect staff from coronavirus.

Several other websites online have listed the same Type II masks for between £1 and £2 per mask.

UKMeds sells 50 of the masks for £49.99, The Glove Club sells ten of the masks for £19.99 and Medisave sells 50 of the masks for £54.99.

The Stray Ferret took its findings to Unison and the owner of a care home in the Harrogate district.

The listing on Change Mobility’s website from May 5.

Wendy Nichols, the branch secretary of the Unison North Yorkshire branch, told the Stray Ferret:

“I find it absolutely appalling that someone is trying to make extra money from the current crisis the country finds itself in. PPE has been difficult to secure and someone inflating the price could put at risk both residents and Unison members in care homes. It’s an absolute disgrace.”

Unison Yorkshire & Humberside’s head of health Tony Pearson added:

“Gowns, gloves, masks, and visors are vital in the fight to keep health and care workers safe. No-one should be looking to make a quick buck at this time of national crisis. It’s wrong to hike prices and charge VAT when the government scrapped it on PPE last week.”

The owner of a care home in the Harrogate district was disappointed by the price the local firm was charging:

“We are still up against a shortage of PPE in care homes. We have sourced masks from around the country and around the world but not many locally. I think that firm is charging too much. We normally pay around £2 to £2.50 for these Type II masks.”

Change Mobility changed the listing just 30 minutes after the Stray Ferret got in touch.

The Stray Ferret approached Change Mobility with its findings yesterday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the company told the Stray Ferret that increasing demand meant that price increases were inevitable and that it needed to update the website:

“Change Mobility is owned by Beaucare Medical and the shop is currently closed on Kings Road due to COVID19. Therefore due to the Government changes that took place on Thursday, we have concentrated on the Beaucare website amends and the Change Mobility site hasn’t been touched. This website doesn’t control stock and we are out of stock on this specific type. But I’m about to add some that we do have in stock. So feel free to check the website shortly and the Beaucare one. We are trying our utmost to not increase sell out price on PPE, but some increases are inevitable as raw materials and interest in the market is increasing demand.”

Within 30 minutes the listing was marked as out of stock and reduced in price.

Change Mobility wrongly charged VAT

While investigating Change Mobility’s masks, the Stray Ferret noticed that it was wrongly charging 20% VAT on top.

The government gave the sale of PPE a VAT zero-rating in effect from May 1 to July 31. Other sellers have removed VAT.

Change Mobility has since changed the listing to remove VAT.

A group of Harrogate photographers has raised over £2,000 for the hospital with family portraits documenting life under coronavirus lockdown.

Stacey Evans set up The Doorstep Portrait Project just three weeks ago with five other photographers and she says it is really starting to take off.

They can cover families in Starbeck, Hookstone, Bilton, Jennyfields, Shaw Mills, Harlow Hill, Leeds Road, Goldsborough, and Knaresborough all in their daily exercise with social distancing at the forefront of their minds.

The Cooney Family.

It has been so popular that they have even had requests from as far away as Brighton, something they had to turn down.

“We are over the moon,” Stacey, who started photography as a hobby, told the Stray Ferret. “None of us could imagine it would take off so well.

“This started off with the idea of raising £500 but we have gone well above that now and hope to raise as much as we can for the hospital in Harrogate.

The Hunt family.

“I moved to Harrogate fairly recently so it has been a great way of getting to know my neighbours. It’s been so nice to talk to people and see their smiles.”

She says she got the idea from a photographer in America who got some negative publicity after breaking social distancing rules and trying to make a profit.

The Needle family.

Stacey wanted to turn it into something positive so she always keeps her distance and does not charge for the photos. Instead, they ask people to donate money to Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity to help those on the frontline.

At the time of writing The Doorstep Portrait Project has raised £2,280 for the hospital.

The Foster family.

Stacey J Evans Photography, Lianne Price Photography, Nicole Wilcox Photography, Sarah Warne Photography, Charlotte Hedgecock Photography & Rachael Fawcett Photography are all involved and bring their own styles to each photoshoot.

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row.

The last time the hospital reported a coronavirus death was on Monday, with the patient losing their life the day before.

As of last Thursday, Harrogate District Hospital has also released 70 patients after recovering from coronavirus.

Hospitals across the North East and Yorkshire reported another 51 deaths in today’s figures, with 331 deaths across England.

Patients were aged between 32 and 102 years old. 17 of the 331 patients, who were aged between 46 and 88 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

However, while the number of deaths at the hospital appears to be slowing down the number of deaths in care homes is rising according to weekly data from the Office for National Statistics.

Last week, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals.

This week, the data goes up to April 24 and now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

One of Harrogate’s waste recycling centres will reopen under strict controls along with half of the others in North Yorkshire.

Penny Pot Lane will be the first of Harrogate’s centres to reopen after the Government updated its advice and urged councils to make them safe for the public and for staff.

The centres will be open seven days a week including bank holidays with opening hours be between 8.30am and 5pm.

It will be managed with a queuing system with a cut-off point so if it becomes too long people will be sent back home. Trailers will not be allowed until further notice.

A limited number of people will be able to visit at any one time. Only one person will be allowed out of their vehicle once on-site, and people must remain in their vehicle while queuing.

To support social distancing, site staff will be unable to help with the disposal of waste.

People will be able to separate waste into different skips. The usual rules will apply for chargeable waste. Payment by card will be accepted only, contactless where possible.

Hand sanitising facilities at sites are limited, so people are advised to wear gloves and will be reminded to wash their hands before and after.

Commercial waste will not be accepted at this time. Commercial-like vehicles that are registered with the council will be permitted on site.

North Yorkshire County Council closed all 20 of its centres in March but will reopen ten of them tomorrow.

The council said that it cannot open all of its centres just yet because of their size, layout and proximity to roads but added that this will be reviewed continually with a view to opening more as soon as possible.

The household waste recycling centres to reopen are:

• Catterick Bridge, Gatherley Road, Catterick Bridge, DL10 7JD
• Leeming Bar, Tutin Road, Leeming Bar Industrial Estate, Leeming Bar, DL7 9UJ
• Seamer Carr, Dunslow Road, Eastfield, YO12 4QASelby, Canal Road, Selby, YO8 8AG
• Skipton, Harrogate Road, Skipton, BD23 6AB
• Sowerby, Ox Moor Plantation Lane, Sowerby, Thirsk, YO7 1FA
• Stokesley, 8 Ellerbeck Court, Stokesley Business Park, Stokesley, TS9 5PT (the existing permit system remains in place)
• Thornton le Dale, Outgang Lane, Thornton le Dale, YO18 7QP
• West Harrogate, Penny Pot Lane, Harrogate, HG3 2SN
• Whitby, Discovery Way, Whitby Industrial Estate, Whitby, YO22 4PZ

Councillor Andrew Lee, the executive member for waste management, said:

“I am pleased that we can move forward now, and thank residents for their support of the measures we have taken to date and in anticipation of their continued support to ensure the arrangements we are now putting in place can operate successfully. This will be the first phase of the reopening and we will work to reopen the other sites as soon as we can.”

88 people have died in Harrogate after testing positive for coronavirus with 35 of those deaths recorded in the town’s care homes.

Each week on a Tuesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals how many people have died outside of hospitals.

The number of hospital deaths is released on a daily basis by the NHS – Harrogate District Hospital has so far recorded 49 coronavirus deaths.

Update: Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any more coronavirus deaths in today’s new figures. A further 366 people have died in England’s hospitals.

Last week, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals.

This week, the data goes up to April 24 and now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

The data also gives an overview of the rest of the country’s care homes where there is an average of 20 care home deaths. Harrogate is above the national average at 35 deaths.

When the ONS data, bearing in mind that it only goes up to April 24, is added to the latest numbers from hospitals it confirms that 88 people so far have died with coronavirus in Harrogate.

As of last Thursday, Harrogate District Hospital has also released 70 patients after recovering from coronavirus.

North Yorkshire Police has said that some of the county’s weekend visitors think they are immune to coronavirus after handing out 61 fines on Saturday and Sunday.

Malham again appears to be a hot-spot for visitors and made up for 12 of the 61 fines this weekend.

Nine of those fines were issued to a group of men who had been preparing for a barbeque in Malham with plenty of food and drink to keep them going.

Some other visitors to the region this weekend who left with a fine were:

• A family from Sheffield who decided to take a trip to the Yorkshire coast, but broke down on the A64
• A group of off-road bikers from West Yorkshire who came to ride their bikes in Selby
• Four people from London visiting Dibbles Bridge with no good reason
• Five people from Leeds who had travelled to Lumby to have their picture taken next to a specific pylon

Officers were also busy responding to collisions across the region, one of which was near to Pateley Bridge and involved a group from Essex, who were left with minor injuries.

Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker said:

“Sadly there seems to be a minority of people who think that they are immune to the COVID-19 virus and who choose to not only endanger themselves but also endanger others through their irresponsible behaviour.

“With a bank holiday approaching, we are already preparing for next weekend and rather frustratingly, based on our experience, we expect it to be a very busy weekend. Sadly, there will be no extended break or celebrations for our officers, who will be out in force.

“We will be carrying out our patrols and maintaining our commitment to keeping the public as safe as we possibly can and continuing to protect the NHS from the risk of a second wave of this deadly virus.”

Harrogate District Hospital has reported that one more of its patients who tested positive for coronavirus has died, bringing the hospital’s total so far up to 49.

The person died yesterday and was announced with 204 others in England’s hospitals today. Scotland today recorded another five, Wales another 15 and Northern Ireland another six.

England’s patients were aged between 26 and 101 years old. Three of the 204 patients, who were aged between 41 and 58 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

The number of deaths hit a peak in April.

The Stray Ferret has mapped out the rise and subsequent fall in coronavirus deaths at Harrogate District Hospital.

The data shows that the hospital hit a peak in the number of deaths in April and particularly April 6 with four deaths on one day.

Today’s death figures are the lowest daily increase in hospitals for around five weeks, when 214 were announced dead from coronavirus on March 29.

Last week the ONS released data on the number of COVID-19 deaths outside of hospitals. In the Harrogate district, 22 people are reported to have died with symptoms of the virus up to April 17th.

Firefighters across the Harrogate district held a minute silence today at 12pm as part of an international effort to remember their fallen colleagues.

Members of the Blue Watch in Ripon and the Green Watch in Harrogate stood outside their bases today to pay their respects.

Two Harrogate-based contractors have questioned why the council is bringing in contractors from Lancashire to restore the Stray.

Harrogate Borough Council this week outlined details of its £130,000 plan to be carried out by Glendale Services, from Chorley.

Representatives from HACS Construction Group and Ray Skelton, firms with significant experience in groundworks and landscaping, wanted the council to look closer to home at a time when many are struggling financially.

Mark Smith, from HACS, told the Stray Ferret that he is “absolutely disgusted”  that the council did not ask local firms to tender for the work.

“They are bringing in workers from Chorley in Lancashire and not supporting local firms. 70% of my staff are furloughed and I have all the equipment to do the work. It’s a disgrace. Local firms should have had the opportunity to price for the main work – the only thing I was asked to price for was the corner work”

They feel that part of the problem with the UCI Championships last year was because the organisers did not understand that the Stray is more than a patch of grass to the residents of Harrogate. Stuart Skelton also said that the council did not ask his firm to tender for the work.

“How do they know if it’s best value? Why get a company outside Harrogate? A local firm understands how important the Stray is to the town.”

The Stray Ferret took these concerns to Harrogate Borough Council. The council responded by saying it welcomes any local businesses that wish to join its database and sent us information about how to register as a supplier.

Both companies pointed out that they have been doing work for the council for decades.

Will the year-long restoration be enough?

HACS Construction and the Stray Defence Association have also questioned whether the restoration, which is estimated to be complete a year after the UCI, will be a long term solution.

Mr Smith told the Stray Ferret that, before any re-seeding, the main area of West Park Stray that was damaged needs to be properly drained.

He has also warned that what’s being done is “cosmetic” and any big event held thereafter next year could see a repeat of the problem. He outlined what he felt needs to be done:

• £150,000 to drain the main area of the Stray that is damaged
• £60,000 to replace the topsoil
• £10,000 to reseed
• £8,000 for aeration
• £34,000 a year to dress the area in round particle sports sand

The Stray Defence Association has made a statement in which it questions whether the work will be enough:

“After seven months without use of West Park Stray, eight if you include the usage by the UCI, we are pleased that at long last something appears to be happening after many weeks of spring weather when, surely,  work could have begun. Whether what is planned will be both proficient and sufficient remains to be seen. We were told initially that the ‘drainage issues’ were going to be resolved prior to any restoration. Has this in fact been done or will the Stray be dug up again for future work?

“Also, other experts have given details of much more complex renovations which they believe should be undertaken. Will our Stray actually be properly restored? This was a clearly stipulated condition, asked for by the SDA and granted, when the government agreed to the Stray being used for this event last year. Whatever the case Harrogate’s people, to whom the Stray belongs, must be told the truth.”