It wouldn’t be Christmas without doom-laden headlines about Coronavirus. Yesterday the Guardian published scary new data headlined “Number of people in hospital with Covid in England rises 22% in a week”.  22% sounds high. Is it time to dust off those face masks?

According to the NHS data in the Guardian piece, 6,720 people were in hospital with Covid on 14 December, up from 5,501 the week before. The key point, however, is this, buried towards the bottom of the story:

“Some patients in hospital with Covid are likely to have been admitted for a different reason”.

Some? The Office for National Statistics data for this week shows that around 65% of Covid hospitalisation patients are actually being treated primarily for something else. They just happen to have tested positive. Stand down. No need to renew your Joe Wicks subscription or start baking banana bread at home again…