Essex looks likely to be placed under Tier 2 Covid-19 restrictions as early as this weekend after cases in the county have quadrupled in a month. The number of cases in Tendring rose from 25.9 per 100,000 in the week to 2 October to 80.5 per 100,000 in the week to 9 October.
Following a full council meeting earlier today (October 13), Essex County Council applied to enter Tier 2 in a bid to prevent rising numbers of hospital admissions and fatalities. The application is expected to be considered by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, tomorrow, with an announcement following on Thursday.
An Essex County Council statement says that under Tier 2 “people must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place. They must not meet in a group of more than six outside, including in a garden or other space. Should ‘High level’ restrictions fail to work, areas would be placed into ‘Very High’, the highest level of restrictions”.
Essex councillors had been updated on the current situation by the county’s director of public health and wellbeing, Dr Mike Gogarty, who said: “Across the county we have moved from gradual to exponential growth with number of cases rising exponentially.We want act now to minimise the impact on the public health and the economy and by doing so we believe we can shorten the period of enhanced restrictions.”
John Spence, the council’s cabinet member for adults and health, added: “The advice from our director of public health is compelling – that without action now, we can expect to see continuing doubling of rates week after week, and these increases will be followed by on-going growth in hospital admissions and, most horribly of all, deaths. It is critical that we enable the hospitals and the NHS as a whole not just to cope with Covid, but to avoid yet further backlogs in other aspects of critical care.”
On Sunday, a 41-year-old became the first person in Essex to receive a £10,000 fine for breaching Covid-19 legislation after organising a wedding party for 80 people in a Margaretting venue. Fines have also been handed out to more than 30 students at Essex University.
