Council’s approach to virus is too passive
SO everyone in Oldham now has to comply with an extended set of restrictions due to the high incidence of coronavirus in the borough.
I have no problem with this if it helps bring the numbers down, but what I can’t understand is Oldham Council’s seemingly passive approach to all of this – or at least a failure to get the residents on board by updating them on what actions they have been taking. All we have seen is token statements from Cllrs Fielding and Shah, saying they are very worried (aren’t we all) and we need to stick to the rules.
There has been no information broadcast as to what the council has actually been doing to address the specific problems in Oldham.
This approach alone is obviously not enough, as just repeating the rules does not seem to be hitting home where it is required.
While it is imperative that we all do all that we can to stop the spread of coronavirus, it is obvious from the data published for the first two weeks of August that two areas with significantly more cases than anywhere else in Oldham - or Greater Manchester for that matter - are Werneth and Alexandra Park.
While it seems that the numbers there are reducing, there has been no information published on what Oldham Council is doing about this.
Also - there is little information on what actions are being taken to tackle businesses which are not complying with the rules. The guilt trip is being placed solely on the wider public.
In order to boost our faith in the council, we need to know what efforts are being made to address these issues at a local level. However, I have seen nothing as of yet. I realise that the persons concerned must, hopefully, be very busy at this point, and that the virus is not just in these two areas but spread to a lesser extent across the borough.
However, it is vital that if Oldham Council wants to keep its residents on board, we need to have faith / confidence in what the Council is doing.
Mark, Oldham