Health boss: Don’t let Cummings’ actions stop you doing what’s right
PROF URGES PUBLIC TO STICK TO RULES
NEWCASTLE’S public health boss has urged the people of the North East not to break lockdown rules during this weekend’s sunny weather.
Prof Eugene Milne has asked people not to stray from social distancing measures to limit the spread of coronavirus, amid fears that the actions of Boris Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings could undermine public confidence in the lockdown.
Newcastle City Council’s public health director said he agreed with Durham Constabulary’s finding that Mr Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle may have breached the rules, adding that there was “something perverse about pretending otherwise”.
He said: “I think he objectively broke the rules. But I trust that people are sensible enough to recognise that the actions of one person in London don’t make a difference to trying to look after the wellbeing of people in Newcastle
and the North East.
“I hope it will not make a difference to people’s behaviour, I would ask them not to be swayed by that.
“We all know that there are people who break the rules, but the majority don’t. The majority of people are doing a great job in bringing down the risk for the whole population.”
Prof Milne added: “I hope people recognise those were the actions of an individual and that should make no difference to the advice we are giving them to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the community.”
Police said on Thursday that they did not consider Mr Cummings travelling from London to his parents’ County Durham farm in March an offence.
But the force found that a trip to Barnard Castle with his wife and son on April 12, which Mr Cummings said was to check his eyesight before driving back to London, may have been a “minor breach” of the lockdown rules.
Mr Cummings has said that he acted “lawfully and reasonably”, while the Prime Minister said he wanted to “draw a line under the matter” and stepped in to prevent the Government’s top scientific advisers answering questions about the controversy during Thursday’s daily briefing.
Mr Johnson also announced that lockdown restrictions would be eased further from next Monday, with up to six people allowed to meet outside as long as they stick to social distancing rules.
Prof Milne said people in the North East should get out and enjoy the warm weather this weekend, but urged those from different households to stay two metres apart.
He added that there was “no reason” to think the region was at greater risk from easing the lockdown, despite concerns over high infection rates here.
Prof Milne said: “There is a pretty high acknowledgement now that a lot of the higher R values are driven by transmission in care homes and healthcare settings and I think that is true here.
“I have no reason to believe on the basis of compliance with lockdown that we are particularly different from elsewhere.
“There are issues in that if you have a more deprived population, as we have in the North East, there are more people living in close proximity and doing jobs where it is more likely for transmission to take place.
“And people are more likely to suffer the consequences of Covid if they contract it because we know there are high rates of chronic illnesses and so on. There are particular risks, but within the community I don’t see any reason why we are different from anywhere else at the moment.
“At the moment I don’t think any of us know how much will change as a consequence of stepping out of lockdown to some extent. It will depend on how willing people are to stick to social distancing rules.
“If people do that and observe the basics of good hand hygiene and so on, there is a good chance we can start to relieve things more and put protective measures in place at the same time.”