The Harrogate district faces bordering a tier three area with the highest covid restrictions from next week.
Leeds, along with the rest of West Yorkshire, will enter the highest tier on Monday after cases in areas such as Bradford stand at 485 per 100,000 people.
It means that in Leeds betting shops, casinos and pubs which do not serve meals will close. Mixing of households will also be banned both indoors and outdoors.
But, across the border, pubs will remain open until 10am and people will be able to continue to meet indoors and outdoors while abiding by the rule of six.
North Yorkshire has avoided being moved into a tier two lockdown, despite only having a marginally lower infection rate than some areas which face tougher restrictions.
The county has a case rate of 174 per 100,000 population, according to latest Public Health England data. But North Lincolnshire has a rate of 194 and will enter tier two from Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Harrogate district currently has a seven-day case rate of 242, which is higher than the national average.
East Riding of Yorkshire and Hull will also enter “high risk” restrictions, leaving North Yorkshire surrounded by higher tier areas.
Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at the county council, said last week that the county was in discussions with the wider county over what tier it should be in.
Read more:
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- North Yorkshire could enter tier two this week
He said there was a desire to “simplify” and although the county’s infection rate was low compared with its neighbours, it was still influenced by what goes on in surrounding areas.
All areas involved in those discussions are now either in or due to go into a higher tier, apart from North Yorkshire.
But, Richard Webb, director of adult care at the county council, yesterday warned that the county could be in tier two before the end of the week.
He told a North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which is a partnership of emergency agencies, briefing:
“The situation in North Yorkshire is now hanging by a thread. We are currently in tier one but that is really on a knife edge.
“We may even be in a situation at the end of this week where we move into tier two restrictions. But we are hoping that we can prevent that.
“We want to stay in tier one. It is better for livelihoods and for economic wellbeing. Today we are asking people to act now to save lives more than ever.”
The discussions over what tier the county should be in has also raised concern from local MPs.
Kevin Hollinrake, Thirsk and Malton MP, has previously urged the government to look at a district approach to local restrictions.
He told the Stray Ferret it was only fair on businesses to impose tighter measures when there was an “absolute need”.
