MP expecting no change to Tier 3
LOOKING AT DATA, HEALTH MINISTER AND COUNTY POLITICIAN PREDICTS STATUS TO STAY SAME IN REVIEW
A COUNTY MP says he does not expect Leicester and Leicestershire to change from Tier 3 status when current Covid restrictions are reviewed by the government today.
Charnwood MP Ed Argar based his prediction on factors such as the number of people being treated in the area’s three main hospitals, as well as the general infection rate and the number of over-60s who are contracting the virus.
Mr Argar, who is a health minister, told the Mercury: “The health secretary will make the decision and there is no fixed geography that means Leicester and Leicestershire will be in the same tier.
“Areas will be looked at based on their merits and as we saw yesterday, decoupling can occur where the data supports it.
“My instinct is, having looked at the latest data I’ve been given, there won’t be any change in Leicester or Leicestershire.
“The latest number I have for rates in the over-60s nationally shows a rate of 118.4 cases per 100,000 – in Leicestershire that same rate is 175.9 cases per 100,000.
“Cases in that age group have increased by 66 per cent.
“Rates in other age groups are also rising.
“I don’t want to predict what will happen but, based on what I know, I would not expect to see a move from Tier 3.”
Hours before a decision is due on the city and county’s restrictions, Mr Argar also said that Covid patient numbers are, at the moment, higher than ever before.
Hospital capacity and how the local NHS is coping is one of the key factors behind tier decisions. Hospitals are under the same pressure now as they were at the height of the crisis in April.
Mr Argar said: “Though it is difficult, I think Tier 3 was the right decision before and it’s hard to see that it won’t be again with rates rising here and elsewhere and the upcoming Christmas rules that will allow three households to meet.
“I would very much like us to move down the tiers but what we don’t want to see happen is for us to move to Tier 2, rates to go back up and then face Tier 3 again. The timing has to be right.”
He added that the vaccine means that there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
But he warned: “We are not out of the woods yet. Christmas is about balancing people’s emotional and mental health with the spread of the virus.
“I would urge people to practise good hand hygiene and all of the other measures we have grown used to.”