Alan White Staffordshire County Council leader

ONCE again, I find myself writing about Covid-19 and the urgency for us all to do everything we can to contain the virus.

There is still lots of positive work that we’re doing in the county and for our communities, but for now, our priority is trying to limit the impact of the pandemic.

There’s no doubt that the virus is tightening its grip across the UK, including here in Staffordshire where cases continue to rise rapidly.

While the county as a whole is currently below the national rate, it’s an ever-changing situation and that’s why we do need to redouble our efforts to protect vulnerable people and keep the county open for business.

People will have seen the new Local Covid-19 Alert Levels announced by the Government last week. The three Alert Levels of “medium, “high” and “very high” will see restrictions applied progressively as the number of cases rise. We want to keep Staffordshire at Medium Alert for as long as possible and avoid additional restrictions on our lives and livelihoods.

We continue to support the care sector and at the last count have packed and delivered over four million items of emergency PPE to care workers and other frontline staff across the county. Our support for businesses continues and we’ve also introduced the Government’s new Kickstart Scheme to help create thousands of high-quality work experience placements for young people.

Our ambition remains to work with residents and employers to keep the county open for business. It’s therefore more important than ever that we follow all the official guidance, remembering hands, face and space which we know will help us control the virus.

You can find out how to keep yourself and your family safe rk at staffordshire.gov.uk/coronavirus.