Experts: We’ll all be in same tier
A PUBLIC health boss in Nottinghamshire says he expects the entire county to be placed under the same tier after the national lockdown.
Different areas in Nottinghamshire currently have varying rates of infection. For example, Broxtowe and Nottingham, fall below the national average - Broxtowe’s infection rate is the lowest in the county at 221.9.
Meanwhile, the north of Nottinghamshire, such as Mansfield and
Bassetlaw, is seeing much higher infection rates. Bassetlaw’s rate is currently 417.2 – far higher than the national average at 265.5.
Some council leaders have called for different areas to be put into different tiers by the Government come the end of the lockdown on December 2.
But Jonathan Gribbin, director of public health at Nottinghamshire County Council, says he hopes and expects the entire county will be placed under the same tier – as it was for just a few days before national lockdown was announced.
He said: “Whereas earlier on in the summer, in August time, we were dealing with some of the challenges around Newark, we were dealing with a situation where at that time the virus wasn’t circulating as widely in our communities as it is now.
“So it was possible to have some arrangements in place which could be much more finely targeted around dealing with a challenge in a certain area of the county.
“Across the country, and in Nottinghamshire as well, we’re now dealing with a situation where the virus is circulating much more widely.
“I think we’ve learnt together, and I think it’s now widely understood, that it’s quite unrealistic to see that rates are rising – across Nottinghamshire we have a rising tide – and to imagine that in the context of a rising tide we can expect that one bit of our beach, if I can use that metaphor, might escape the effects of that rising tide.
“I think if we have rising rates at the moment in one part of the county we would need to expect that in all likelihood that would affect all parts sooner or later.
“So I’m hoping for some arrangements which come in that reflect that reality, too, and deal with Nottinghamshire in general and not just one bit of Nottinghamshire or another.
“We can also look forward to the spring and summer ahead when I’m expecting that we will move back to a situation where we have much lower transmission rates across the whole county and the country at large.
“And at that time, we may be in a position to revert to some arrangements which allow for much more finely focused and targeted measures.
“But for the time being, through the winter period, I think we need to be thinking about this rather differently and on a much wider geography than we were doing up until quite recently.”
Whereas areas in north Nottinghamshire had much lower rates than the city before Nottinghamshire was placed in Tier Three last month, current rates indicate the opposite would be true post-lockdown.
Public health bosses also indicated there will be less “local variation” this time – so a return to Nottinghamshire specific measures, such as the 9pm alcohol ban, is unlikely when tiered restrictions return.
Alison Challenger, director of public health at Nottingham City Council, said: “We know of course that we will be entering into a tiered lockdown again soon.
“We don’t expect it to be the same measures that we put in place across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire when we do return to that.
“I am aware that the Government are in dialogue and they are considering both what those tiers are and what the escalation and de-escalation will be from those tiers. And also the geographies from which they are going to apply those.
“We haven’t heard what that will be locally but we expecting to hear more and to get greater clarity on that over, I hope, the next week.”