County ‘not through this yet’ despite fall in cases, says leader

A SENIOR West Yorkshire leader has warned that the pandemic is not yet over for the county a year on from the declaration of a “major incident” as coronavirus rates remain among the highest in the country.

Robin Tuddenham, co-chairman of the West Yorkshire Prepared local resilience forum and chief executive of Calderdale Council, said there was “no clear data” of when the county could stand down from the “unprecedented” major incident status declared on March 20, last year.

Major incidents, which are usually declared for floods, major fires or similar emergencies, normally last for a day or two owing to the intense level of effort required by the agencies involved.

But Mr Tuddenham said: “Although we now have a roadmap out of lockdown, as outlined by the Government, this unfortunately doesn’t mean the end of the pandemic.”

While rates of coronavirus are falling in Yorkshire and the Humber thanks to lockdown measures and the impact of the vaccine, the decrease is slower than other areas of the country.

A breakdown by local authority areas shows Hull, Bradford, Wakefield, Rotherham and Barnsley all in the top 10 areas in the country for the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Mr Tuddenham said: “As it currently stands, there is no clear date of when we will be able to ‘stand down’ from this major incident.

“While the number of people being admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 is the lowest since before Christmas, infection rates still remain high in West Yorkshire compared with the rest of the country, although they are falling steadily.

“We have come a long way, and can begin to rebuild, but we need to be patient and mindful that we are not through this yet.”

The last year has seen members of the local resilience forum, a multi-agency partnership made up of representatives from local public services, tackle the pandemic as well as Brexit, flooding and major fires.

Dave Walton, who is co-chairman of West Yorkshire Prepared as well as the Deputy Chief Fire Officer of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We should all be extremely proud of what we have achieved together so far, for as bad as this has been for us all, it could have been far, far worse.

“However, our overriding message to everyone in West Yorkshire is this isn’t over yet.

“While we can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel, we need everyone to keep playing their part by continuing to follow the guidance.”