County council bosses have urged people in Lichfield and Burntwood to “keep going” in a bid to keep the roadmap out of coronavirus restrictions on track.

Coronavirus

The Government has outlined a series of stages with the aim of removing COVID-19 regulations by the middle of June.

But health chiefs from Staffordshire County Council are reminding residents that dates along the way are all provisional, meaning the could be pushed back if the data starts going in the wrong direction.

Staffordshire’s overall number of cases is currently falling, with the figure now at around 110 positive tests each week per 100,000 people – but this is still above the average for England.

Cllr Johnny McMahon Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for health, care and wellbeing, said:

“Huge sacrifices have been made to control the Covid-19 virus in Staffordshire. We must all hold our nerve as the way back to a normal life appears to be getting closer.

“Let’s stick together, keep going and continue our hard work.

“The gradual easing of restrictions are not givens – we all know how unpredictable the virus can be.

“It’s really down to us to follow the rules and make the road out of lockdown a reality.”

Cllr Johnny McMahon, Staffordshire County Council

Staffordshire residents can drop into Community Testing Centres to get a rapid Covid-19 test. Walk ins are subject to availability at each individual site – to secure a slot in advance, book on our community testing sites web page.

People with symptoms or those who have been asked to self-isolate as a close contact of a Covid case should not attend.

Anyone with symptoms should only book a national test at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.

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Darryl
3 years ago

I have never been a Covid denier, but I’m cynical about these lockdowns, the motives for them, and the persistent use of carrot and stick tactics.

The UK government and Tory MPs (like Fabricant) enjoy taking to social media to point out how well they are doing with the vaccinations, and the numbers seem to be very good, yet here we are still locked down.

Across Europe, the matrices scale of how severe lockdown restrictions a populace is under puts the UK at the highest level, and only 4th in world – given there are dictatorships, that’s quite some accolade.

Fabricant particularly enjoys slinging mud at EU countries for their apparent slovenly vaccination programme, but he’d do well to remember that no other European country has closed school for as long as we have nor do they have as high death rate.

So as good as the vaccination regime sounds, the underlying story tells a different tale.

Back to lockdowns, why is it that we remain locked down? It’s an interesting question, one that is hard to debate because if you say on social media that you believe the lockdown should be lifted, people take that as meaning a free-for-all with no sensible restrictions.

Could we not, now, reduce the rules on outdoor activities? Sage and more broadly the scientific community have been saying for months that outdoor transmission is minimal. Apparently the government don’t follow the science on that one.

The lockdown doesn’t lift on 8th March, the kids go back, sure, but we are still lockdown in another name in various stages for months.

With 20+ million now vaccinated and an unknown number with anti-bodies, MPs should be ensuring that they are getting a vote on any future Covid regulations and representing their constituents views.

Babs
3 years ago

I think boris has got it right have you been walking people just walk straight through you chasewater is packed with cars sat sun all tbe rds by uxbridge arms so imagine if he did relaxed it we would be back in lockdown again

Darryl
3 years ago

Babs, if the intention is to keep people apart, Johnson’s lockdown is having the perverse effect of keeping them together.

For example, it’s not a stretch to say people don’t drive for 4 hours to visit Chasewater, it’s visited by people locally.

Consequently, people are not driving to the Lake District, Snowdonia, Corwall et. al. thus they are congregating in their local areas, whilst these vast expanses of countryside and hills are practically empty.