County needs clarity over moving restriction levels, says health chief
THE GOVERNMENT needs to provide more clarity to North Yorkshire on how the county could be taken out of Tier 2 restrictions if they are imposed by the Government because of rising numbers of Covid cases, according to its Director of Public Health.
Dr Lincoln Sargeant said the number of cases in North Yorkshire was still below the national average and the speed at which infections are increasing appeared to be slowing down, but further interventions may still be necessary.
Neighbouring areas including the City of York, Tees Valley and West Yorkshire are already in Tier 2, meaning household mixing is banned indoors, and South Yorkshire in Tier 3 from Saturday.
And Dr Sargeant said this meant that North Yorkshire, which is still in Tier 1 alongside Hull and the East Riding, might be “part of discussions” with the Government about further restrictions being imposed on a wider regional or sub- regional level. He said a concern was “the lack of clarity in terms of what are the criteria and process for areas that are in higher tiers of interventions to move down”.
He added: “So, if and when North Yorkshire were to move into Tier 2, it would be important for us to understand what would be the benchmarks, what would be the indicators that would signal that we have been successful with various measures and that we can then step back down say into Tier 1 restrictions and clearly there have been some areas that have been on the interventions for quite a long periods of time.
“And I think the public would want clarity, which would also be motivating because if you know that there is something to aim for and if you achieve that, then the restrictions can be lifted. I think that’s more motivating for the public to get behind restrictions, if and when they are introduced.”
Dr Sargeant said North Yorkshire’s seven day infection rate was 129.8 per 100,000 people, below the England average of 158.9. Selby’s rate of 165.5 was the highest followed by Harrogate at 161 and Craven at 126.