Valley move into Tier 3 ‘inevitable’
ROSSENDALE was expected to move into Tier 3 - classed as ‘very high risk’ - as discussions with government health officials continued over reclassifying the county’s alert level.
Lancashire County Council leader Geoff
Driver said the move, which would shut pubs not serving food, was ‘inevitable’ due to high infection rates.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday morning, he said: “It’s really a question of when and how, and we’re working with government trying to put together a package of measures that will mitigate the inevitable impact on that particular sector of the economy.”
The Conservative councillor said he did not feel the county was being “railroaded” into the measures.
However,the LCC leader added: “It’s an inescapable fact and the very, very firm advice that we’re getting from our directors of public health is that closing the pubs and bars will not, in itself, get on top of the virus, so we will need to take other measures in addition to that and in order to do that effectively we need more resources.
“That’s the push that we’re making with government at the moment.”
The government has warned it is ‘highly likely’ that some or all of Lancashire will be put into the most severe Tier 3 soon.
Lancashire’s leaders say they have been clear that any additional restrictions must be accompanied by a full package of support for the county’s residents and businesses.
It comes just days after Haslingden MP Sara Britcliffe welcomed the announcement Lancashire had avoided the more severely restricted tier.
She had said: “I think there will have been a sigh of relief from owners of pubs and bars and their customers. However, people must obey the new rules to reduce transmission of Covid-19 or we will be moved in to tier three.”
Currently, the total number of Covid-19 cases across the county is now 25,259 since the start of the pandemic.
All 14 local authorities in Lancashire recorded a rise in their infection rates in the week to October 13, with Rossendale seeing 219 new cases in seven days, up from 176 the week before.
East Lancashire NHS Hospital Trust began posting notices on social media last week asking people to avoid the Royal Blackburn Accident and Emergency Department which was extremely busy.