How we stayed out of Tier 4

MANY residents and businesses in West Yorkshire will have breathed a sigh of relief this week when it was announced that the region would be staying in Tier 3.

West Yorkshire was first placed into Tier 3 restrictions back before the second national lockdown began in November and has remained there ever since.

Now over three-quarters of England is in the very toughest Tier 4 measures, that require non-essential shops and other businesses such as hairdressers and beauty salons to close.

So how did West Yorkshire avoid this?

All areas of West Yorkshire are in the lowest quarter of infection rates in the whole country, something which has managed to keep it out of the toughest restrictions.

Each area of West Yorkshire is still under 200 cases per 100,000.

And Kirklees is in the bottom 30 for the lowest rates in the whole of England, with a rate of 160.3 per 100,000 in the seven days to December 26.

However, these are slowly creeping up, but not at a rate seen in other areas of the country.

Latest infection rates for West Yorkshire:

Leeds, Tier 3, 191.0, (1515), 144.9, (1149)

Wakefield, Tier 3, 179.7, (626), 152.2, (530)

Calderdale, Tier 3, 174.5, (369), 152.3, (322)

Bradford, Tier

164.5, (888)

Kirklees, Tier 3, 160.3, (705), 159.2, (700)

3, 172.7, (932),

Compared to the rest of the country, North East and Yorkshire has some of the lowest bed occupancy for those with a confirmed case of coronavirus.

As of 8am on December 30, there were 2,573 beds in total occupied by someone with a positive coronavirus test in hospitals in the North East and Yorkshire.

This is low compared to some other regions across England.

For example London with 5,524, the Midlands with 3,876 and then the South East with 3,949.

These figures will have also helped to keep Yorkshire in Tier 3 measures.

The government have not yet published a reason on why it decided to keep West Yorkshire in

Tier 3 restrictions. However, we can have a look at what they said about the county on the last review on December 17 to see if much has changed.

The government said that things were improving but not enough for de-escalation to Tier 2.

On December 17, the government said: “Since the end of national restrictions the situation in West Yorkshire has improved though is still of concern.

“Case rates are decreasing by more than 10% in all five local authorities.

“Case rates in over 60s are stable or decreasing across the West Yorkshire area but remain above 150 per 100,000 in Bradford and Wakefield.

“Positivity rates are falling across the area. The epidemiology indicators remain too high for de-escalation to Tier 2.”

Another review of the tier system is expected on January 13.