hereSara Rowbotham, Rochdale council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said the reasons for Castleton being hit so hard would only be properly understood after an in-depth ‘deep dive’ analysis of the data.But she suggests its ageing population may have been a contributing factor.“That’s just my sense,” she said. “I often think of Castleton as being a place with much more of an older population.“I can only think that may be why it was disproportionately impacted by the virus.”There are also care homes in the area- including Meadow View and Carders Court - which will by their nature cater for older people.However, Coun Rowbotham said she was not aware of any homes in the area having a ‘huge amount of infection’, so this may not fully.