The Harrogate district could move out of tier two into tier one if coronavirus infection rates continue to fall.
Local public health officials struck an optimistic tone in light of today’s announcement but warned against complacency.
They said in an emergency press briefing that it was possible for North Yorkshire to change tiers when they are up for review in two weeks.
Richard Flinton, chair of the the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, said:
“We are pleased that we are not in tier three. But I think we can say that this is not the time for complacency.
“We have to get into tier one and we need to use this time to drive down the virus in the county, we cannot be content in tier two.
“The winter period is a significant and potentially dangerous time in terms of how the virus could move.”
Currently there are more than 340 coronavirus patients in the hospitals that serve North Yorkshire.
That is higher than the first coronavirus wave when the patient numbers peaked at 302.
While the requirements for tier one are not entirely clear, the local officials set out some areas to look out for.
Read more:
- Harrogate district pubs were ‘praying for tier one’
- Harrogate district to enter tier two restrictions
Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health in North Yorkshire, said:
“There are some indicators that we have from before this lockdown that we can aim for.
“We need to get the case rate, the positive case rate, the rates in the over 60s and the patients in hospitals down.
“I believe it is possible for us to have a safe Christmas and at the same time for the virus not to rebound in January.”
As North Yorkshire is surrounded by tier three areas there are concerns that visitors will try to take advantage of the lower restrictions.
Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police’s assistant chief constable and gold commander leading the force’s coronavirus response, said:
“It is not acceptable for someone to travel out of a tier three area without a suitable reason. We do have enforcement powers in place to stop people doing this.
“We are one of the forces that issued the highest amount of fixed penalty notices at the start of the lockdown.”
