How did this happen so quickly after the summer, so quickly after the optimism of 'eat out to help out'?
Local lockdown-lite (technically a local health protection zone) will apply in just under 48 hours' time. It's not surprising, because Denbgighshire's infections have increased significantly. They're not yet at the level during the height of the initial lockdown. At that point, the number of cases in Denbighshire was 728‰. As at September 25th, it's 'only' 42 but over the previous fortnight it's been rising, from about under 15‰ on September 7th, then to about 34‰ 10 days ago before the weekend's figure of 42‰. When you think that the Welsh government placed Neath Port Talbot, Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan under local lockdown-lite on and from 6p.m. on Monday 28th, it was inevitable that Denbighshire (and Conwy,. Flintshire and Wrexham) would follow. The reason was that Newport was at 46‰, NPT at 41‰ and the Vale of Glamorgan 34‰. On september 25th, two new areas in lockdown-lite were lower than Denbighshire's figure.
What impact will it have on the town and its businesses? Many are already on the brink.
Currently, we do not believe that there's significant community transmission. It's confined to care homes, hospitals and increasingly schools. The fear is, without local lockdown-lite, that this will spread quickly among the community and the measures are designed to stop that. It's also fair to say that the Track Trace Protect team is unable to pinpoint any specific outbreak to a specific area or set of circumstances and this means the illness can and could be anywhere.
Schools are an issue. Some schools cannot get or reorder the promised testing kits, while others have too many. Some schools are confused as to when to phone 119. Infuriatingly, unions representing heads are reportedly asking local authorities not to contact heads about the virus over the weekend (yet heads will always contact their education departments at any time if they choose to). Guys, we're in a perilous situation and wouldn't it be better to work together rather than face an open school on a Monday morning with the virus, simply because a head teacher doesn't want to or cannot be contacted.
Tags:
Coronavirus