MPS are urging us not to ‘let down our guard’
MPS are urging people “not to let their guard down” as Covid cases have been falling across Staffordshire.
Burton and Uttoxeter MP Kate Griffiths, Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant and South Derbyshire MP Heather Wheeler are urging constituents to continue to stick to lockdown rules by staying at home and protecting the NHS to ensure there is no new wave of coronavirus cases.
The number of cases are falling across the country, and in some areas of Staffordshire where just a few dozen cases are being reported daily, compared to figures reaching 200 a day in some places earlier this year.
Conservative MP Ms Griffiths said: “It is really good news that rates of coronavirus are falling here in Burton, in Staffordshire and across the whole country. This should be encouragement to everyone and is testament to the hard work we have all made over the past few months.
“However, we must not let our guard down now. It is incredibly important that this trend we are now seeing continues to enable the vaccination rollout to progress rapidly, protecting the next set of priority groups, and that we are able to get children back into school as soon as possible.
“Please, continue to stay at home, to protect the NHS and save lives.”
Fellow Conservative Mr Fabricant said: “Although the rates of Covid infection are dropping, the evidence from Israel – which is the world leader by vaccinating around 75 per cent of its population – is that while the number of infections among those vaccinated has plummeted, infections continue to rise among those who have not.
“So with infection rates still high in East Staffordshire Borough – over 300 new cases over the last seven days – now is not the time to relax. “Covid is still endemic in the community and any let-up on the lockdown will see cases starting to soar again and we’ll all be back where we started.”
MP Heather Wheeler said: “Over the last year, we have all had to make sacrifices and difficult decision to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. We are now at a critical stage where the vaccine is being rolled out with now over 15 million people having received the first dose of the vaccine. This is an outstanding achievement.
“The end is in sight, but we must
With infection rates still high in East Staffordshire, now is not the time to relax.
Michael Fabricant
still follow rules to prevent the prolonging of restrictions. If we follow the rules now we will not have to go into another lockdown.
“None of us wanted to close schools, businesses and services but if we can hold fast, follow the rules for just a little bit longer we will find ourselves in a strong position to reopen and get rid of these restrictions for good.”
More than 8,600 people in East
Staffordshire have had confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic as of 4pm on Tuesday, February 16