This week, the national lockdown ends and areas are moving into the three tier system of restrictions. In the Moorlands we have been put into tier 3, along with the rest of the county and Stoke-on-Trent. Many of you have written to me with your concerns about this issue.
Tier 3 is not very different from the rules that apply during the national lockdown with no household mixing either indoors or outdoors, and with pubs, cafes and restaurants unable to open except for takeaways. The main difference is that shops can open, provided they are Covid-secure, which I know will be such a relief to so many of our struggling local retailers.
Like many of you, I am concerned that the decisions about tiering were taken nationally, without local consultation and I am worried that by putting whole counties and regions into a tier as one, rather than looking at things on a District or Borough basis, parts of the country will be under much stricter restrictions than they need to be.
Everyone has worked so hard to make the lockdown work and infections in the Moorlands are now coming down, so to see restrictions continue during the short, cold days of December is disappointing. However, it is clear that our local acute hospital is struggling and that even with a decline in the number of cases, the Moorlands would face the strictest restrictions in the immediate term.
So, I urge everyone to continue to follow the rules. There will be a review of the tiers on 16 December and I will do all I can to make sure that if it is right for the Moorlands to move into Tier 2, we should. But that will only be possible if infections keep coming down and the pressure on the Royal Stoke is reduced.
