Kentish Express Ashford & District
A hopeful future but the virus is not yet beaten
Health chief warns against complacency
As the county looks ahead to the end of lockdown, Trish Mannes, deputy director for health protection with Public Health England South East, says we should be proud of our efforts so far but not let our guard down at this stage.
There is no doubt it’s been a long, hard winter for everyone across Kent.
But we can finally start to feel cautiously optimistic about the coming months.
As the Prime Minister laid out the steps in his roadmap last week, we will all have heard it slightly differently.
For many, there would have been anticipation as they started counting the days until they could see and hold their loved ones again. For others, who may have been juggling childcare with working from home, or just worried about the mental health of their children, there will have been relief at the news of schools re-opening.
Of course, for others again there will be anxiety, doubts and worries - whether because they work in an industry that won’t be re-opening just yet or because they fear what easing lockdown will mean for Covid19 rates across the region and country.
All of these feelings are completely natural and unsurprising. But, however you feel, it is important to remember that what the Prime Minister has outlined is a careful, incremental approach to opening up different parts of society. Rates across the country are still relatively high and things will
only be eased as the rates come down, numbers of people vaccinated increase, the number of new variants is low and we are sure that the vaccines offer protection against hospitalisation and death.
It is also worth remembering how we have reached this stage. In partnership with local authority public health teams and directors of Public Health, NHS Test and Trace are massively scaling up testing to help us all get back to some normality. Hundreds of thousands are being vaccinated every day and we cannot thank our colleagues in both public health and the NHS enough for the dedication and commitment they have shown.
Schools too have worked incredibly hard right through lockdown to make sure all students have been able to keep studying. For those anxious about their children returning to the classroom, PHE’s chief nurse and director of maternity and early years, Viv Bennett, says that “staff, parents and pupils can feel reassured by scientific evidence that shows transmission in schools is low and that children are not drivers of infection in schools or the wider community.”
You should of course also be proud of your own efforts because we know that lockdown works.
Transmission rates have fallen significantly and this in turn has eased the pressure on the NHS. This has only been possible thanks to the sacrifices you have made by staying at home.
But this virus is far from beaten and even as we can start to look forward to better times, we still have to keep doing the simple things that save lives.
Cover your face, wash your hands and make space will all be with us for some time. For now, you should continue to stay at home as much as possible. When you are offered a vaccination, take it.
Gradually we can re-open the country but we can only do that through small, cautious steps.
We know how quickly infections and deaths can rise when we let our guards down and the future will be informed by ‘data, not dates’. Let’s pull together and we can look forward to a brighter summer.
‘Let’s pull together and we can look forward to a brighter summer’