This afternoon has seen a succession of announcements as the coronavirus crisis deepens.

Public Health England announced that the number of people testing positive in North Yorkshire to coronavirus has risen to 4.

Harrogate Town’s match against Solihull Moors tonight has been called off after staff went into self isolation. The Club released a statement this afternoon:

We have four employees currently under self isolation and we have a duty of care for the health and wellbeing of players, staff and supporters.

Local and mayoral elections in England will be postponed for a year.  The Police and Crime Commissioner elections in North Yorkshire to replace the existing Conservative, Julia Mulligan, were to be held in May.

Elkie Brooks’s appearance at the Royal Hall has also been called off after the singer had a sore throat during rehearsals and was advised to rest.   This is not thought to be related to coronavirus.

Convention Centre Director to hold talks with local businesses

Meanwhile independent businesses are being invited to meet the director of Harrogate Convention Centre so the venue can support them through the coronavirus crisis. 

Paula Lorimer, who has been in post for just over a year, said she feels a sense of responsibility for the town’s economy, which relies heavily on visitors to the centre.  

She is sending out an invitation to independent retailers to visit and explain more about what they can offer to visitors, as well as hearing what the venue is doing to protect local businesses and jobs from the effects of coronavirus. 

While it is currently business as usual at HCC, changing advice from the government is likely to mean fewer events go ahead over the coming weeks across the UK. However, Ms Lorimer is working with organisers to find new dates at the venue.  She said:

“The biggest industry challenge is that there are only 365 days in the year and they have other events throughout the year. How do we get this big Rubix cube to squeeze in everybody else at a later time, in the autumn?” 

So far, two HCC events have been postponed by organisers, though one had not got a full contract in place before changing its plans. The next major event in the calendar is the Conservative Party Spring Forum on 3rd and 4th April, though there are other concerts and single-date events before then. 

Meanwhile, the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language has announced that its April conference in Manchester will instead be held in Harrogate next March. It will bring 3,000 delegates from 100 countries for its four-day programme. 

While the short-term changes are keeping her busy, Ms Lorimer is also keen to ensure her plans to redevelop and build up the convention centre are not affected by the coronavirus outbreak. 

“I’ve got to make sure this venue is in a fantastic place so, when we come out of this, we’re in a first-class position,” she said. 

“Appalling” and “unacceptable” say opposition parties after The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Britain’s most cancelled train is the 07:13 from Harrogate to Leeds.   

The paper published figures from ontimetrains.co.uk which provides statistics on rail punctuality. The paper revealed that the 07:13 was cancelled 28 times out of 55 since new timetables were introduced last year- failing to run on more than half of days in the December to February period analysed.  

Northern rail was stripped of its franchise in March for consistently poor performance and is now operated by the government.  

The Harrogate Line Supporters Group says it’s been told the cancellations were due to a shortage of staff and more services than normal needing repairs and that there are also serious problems with the 07:46 Harrogate to Leeds.   

Harrogate’s Conservative MP, Andrew Jones, who was Rail Minister for 8 months between November 2018 and July 2019 declined to comment to The Stray Ferret on the Sunday Times report. He has previously criticised Northern and supported the move to government ownership.

Opposition parties in Harrogate were united in calling for more money to improve the line. Judith Rogerson, spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said   

We have had to put up with an appalling service for far too long. Whilst I welcome the removal of the franchise from Northern Rail, that is only a first step in the right direction. Responsibility now lies squarely with the Government to provide the re-organisation and investment that our local railways desperately need. 

Mark Sewards of Harrogate & Knaresborough Labour party, said  

It’s completely unacceptable.. Labour has long advocated for our railways to be brought back into public control, and it seems that the government has accepted our argument by terminating Northern Rail’s contract. Money needs to be invested in the Harrogate Line and other train lines in the north of England which have been woefully neglected by a decade of Tory mismanagement. 

The Stray Ferret will be tracking the performance of rail services in the district in the coming months. 

The families of Chinese students at two Harrogate private boarding schools face the dilemma of whether or not their children should go home for the Easter holidays.   

China, where the disease originated, has seen 80,430 cases with 3,013 deaths and more than 6,000 seriously ill. 

Sylvia Brett, Principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College, Highfield Prep School and Highfield Pre-School told The Stray Ferret:

 “A small percentage of our pupils are from Category 1 and Category 2 regions who, following our advice, haven’t been home since Christmas.   

“They will either remain in the UK during the Easter holidays or self-isolate away from school for 14 days on their return.   

“Some are quite naturally worried about friends and family at home and we’re working hard to support them emotionally through this time.  We’re also reviewing overseas trips currently planned for the Summer Term and will decide over the coming weeks whether they will go ahead.” 

The college has installed additional alcohol hand sanitisers around school. The prep school pupils, who normally shake hands with staff when they arrive at school in the morning, have been asked to get creative with alternative greetings such as foot taps, elbow bumps and even the Star Trek “Live Long and Prosper” greeting.  She adds:

 “We’ve been planning and preparing for the impact of coronavirus since the end of January.  It’s a very worrying time for everyone and our whole school community is working hard to help prevent the spread of the virus.” 

The College has a team of qualified nurses in its Wellness Centre and they’ve been medically briefed on the virus and have been liaising with both Public Health England and NHS111.   

A Contingency Planning Team is working on short, medium and long term plans, covering all aspects of running a school including providing lessons via an on-line learning environment and video conferencing if necessary.   

The college believes it’s time for people to keep cool heads and Sylvia Brett points out: 

“I think it’s really important for the sake of the children that we remain calm, but it’s also important that we’re prepared for any future developments and so we’re focusing on trying to achieve both of these things.” 

Ashville College says it is keeping the parents of its students regularly updated.  

The Boarding Schools Association (BSA), of which Harrogate Ladies College and Ashville are both members, gives very specific advice for boarding schools with Chinese students, saying. ‘We advise those who decide to travel that protective measures could well be in place before they return.  Depending upon how the virus spreads, this could include the need for returning pupils to be quarantined.’ 

The Medical Director of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has warned that coronavirus may lead to increasing numbers of people needing to self-isolate but that services are currently running normally.

As the number of confirmed cases in the UK rose today to 85, the Harrogate district has yet to have any– the closest being in Leeds and Ilkley.  Harrogate District Hospital has set up NHS 111 pods outside the main entrance so anyone showing symptoms of the virus can be tested away from other patients, reduce the risk of infection and the strain on the Accident and Emergency Department.

Dr David Scullion, Medical Director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, told The Stray Ferret:

“Over the coming weeks many more of us may need to self-isolate at home for a period to reduce this virus’s spread. Everyone can continue to play their part by taking simple steps such as washing hands to prevent the spread of infection and calling NHS 111 first before going to the doctors or the Emergency Department if they have any concerns about or show symptoms of coronavirus”

Harrogate has a higher than average older population. 6.6% are over 80 years old. A population survey in 2017 found that 10,400 over 65s were living in the district with “limiting illness”.  The elderly are more vulnerable to becoming serious ill if they catch the virus- a rising number of cases would put a significant strain on local services.   

The Hospital, which has a budget of £175m, has 396 beds in total- 10 of which are intensive care and high dependency.  NHS England has told hospitals to consider ways to increase the availability of hospital beds and resources for coronavirus patients.  

The NHS 111 pods outside Harrogate Hospital

People leaving Harrogate hospital told the Stray Ferret they were concerned.

Duncan White who lives in Harrogate said  “ It’s a bit lame just to tell people to wash their hands. I’m not sure that GP surgeries and the Hospital here in Harrogate would cope with an ageing population in panic mode.” 

One woman who wished to remain anonymous said  “I am scared, I have a chronic illness already so I’m very frightened.” 

The Managing Partner of the Leeds Road GP Surgery in Harrogate, Andrew King, said  “We are following national guidelines and we are as prepared as the current guidance has prepared us to be”.   

One Harrogate Dentist, Dr Shohreh Ghasemi, who works both privately and for the NHS told the Stray Ferret  “People should try and remain calm as stress only worsens the effectiveness of our immune systems.” 

Anyone with initial concerns can access the NHS 111 online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need medical help and advise you what to do.  For information click here.

NHS England has published advice on how to reduce the risk of infection. For more information click here. 

The Stray Ferret is an online news service for the Harrogate district. We are a team of experienced journalists who will be covering news, investigating the use of public money and holding our elected representatives at all levels to account.  

We were due to launch at the beginning of April but have decided to start publishing earlier in the event the coronavirus emergency deepens and we have cases locally. Our aim will be to provide the public with information and aim to answer questions you might have about protecting yourselves and your family.   

You can read about who were on the About Us section of the website.  We have more journalists coming to work for us in the coming weeks and our website is not fully complete so bear with us as we expand to cover more stories in the coming month.  

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