Leaders warn: ‘don’t blow it’
LA7 WELCOME PATH OUT OF LOCKDOWN
THE North East has been urged to “not blow it now”, after Boris Johnson confirmed hopes of removing all Covid restrictions on social contact by the end of June.
Local council leaders have backed the government’s gradual approach to easing lockdown measures, after the Prime Minister revealed the longawaited roadmap yesterday afternoon, and warned residents to vigilantly stick to the rules over the “tough” weeks still to come to ensure that they can be lifted on schedule.
In a statement yesterday afternoon, leaders of the LA7 (local authorities) group of North East councils said that this was “as close as we have been since this pandemic began to finding a way through it”, but added: “Let’s not blow it now.”
The leaders of Newcastle, Gateshead, Northumberland, North Tyneside,
South Tyneside, Sunderland, and County Durham, the North of Tyne Mayor, and the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner
(PCC) said that the government’s roadmap was “sensible but it needs to be kept under constant review”.
They added: “We understand the desire of businesses and our residents to see restrictions lifted so we can get back to something like normality.
“But while the infection rates continue to fall, they remain high, with many people still in hospital and too many of those are sadly still dying as a result of Covid-19.
“The threat of new variants is something we are all wary of so as the vaccination programme continues, we all must remain vigilant and continue to follow the simple rules we have become used to.
“Our immediate focus is to do everything we can to support our schools to fully re-open on March 8.”
Across the seven council areas, the Covid infection rate has now fallen to an average 128 new weekly cases per 100,000 people, slightly above the England average of 114.
Council leaders Nick Forbes, Martin Gannon, Glen Sanderson, Norma Redfearn, Tracey Dixon, Graeme Miller, Simon Henig, plus mayor Jamie Driscoll and PCC Kim McGuinness, have also called for widened support for the hospitality, leisure, tourism, and culture industry while businesses remain shut and more help for people who have to self-isolate.
They added: “Not to do so will lead to much higher costs in the longer term of businesses closing, higher unemployment, a greater risk to public safety and more people struggling both financially and with their mental health.
“We also need greater clarification as to how we will control future outbreaks.
“Unless ‘test, trace and isolate’ are all strengthened further and businesses in areas affected are given full financial support, adherence and compliance will be undermined because people will fear losing out financially.
“What today’s announcement doesn’t change for now is the need to stay at home and only go out for essential reasons, including staying local when exercising, maintaining social distancing at all times, wearing face coverings and continuing to regularly wash our hands.
“We urge everyone to take up the vaccine when offered and to those in the priority groups who may still not have had their first dose to come forward.
“There is growing evidence that the vaccines are highly effective in protecting our communities from Covid, having a significant impact on the risk of serious illness and reducing the risk of infection, giving us great reason to be optimistic.”
We also need greater clarification as to how we will control future outbreaks LA7 leaders