coronavirus Archives - Page 32 of 86

Fine people who flout covid travel rules, says North Yorkshire MP

A North Yorkshire MP has called on police to fine people who flout covid travel rules.

Kevin Hollinrake said many people in tier three areas had travelled to lower tiers because of the “greater freedoms”.

North Yorkshire moved from tier two to tier three today amid rising infection rates.

It is believed people in higher tier areas, such as Leeds, frequently travelled to the Harrogate district’s pubs and restaurants, which were still open until today.

Mr Hollinrake, the Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, said this movement of people had increased the spread of the virus.

He told the House of Commons yesterday:

“We would definitely want to move travel restrictions from guidance to being an offence.

“That would prevent a lot of the travel we are seeing, with many people moving from different parts of the country into our area, which is increasing infection rates.

“When the police have used their powers in terms of mixing within hospitality venues or households, that has been very effective, and the word has gone round quickly.

“It would have a similar effect if we started to fine people for travelling without good cause.”

Mr Hollinrake reiterated his call for the government to consider applying different tier restrictions to different districts in North Yorkshire. He said:

“North Yorkshire is a huge place: our districts are the size of counties in other parts of the country.

“Putting a huge county such as North Yorkshire into one tier masks huge differences in the infection rate among districts.

“Some districts have an infection rate that is two or three times that in other districts, so it is possible that some of our districts should be in a higher tier and some in a lower tier. We should consider that.”

Mr Hollinrake also called for grants to businesses forced to close to be increased.

Harrogate district records highest daily coronavirus cases

The Harrogate district has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic with 101 positive tests.

It takes the total number of cases since March up to 4,412.

The number surpasses the previous daily high of 95, which was reported on November 9 shortly after the second lockdown began.

It comes as North Yorkshire was placed in tier three yesterday amid fears of surging covid cases.

In further bad news, another coronavirus death has been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.

It takes the total number of deaths at the hospital from patients who tested positive for coronavirus to 107.

Meanwhile, the seven-day rate of infection in the district has increased to 141 per 100,000 people, but remains the lowest in the county.

The county average is 207 and the England average is 414.

Yesterday, senior health officials in North Yorkshire appealed for patience over the vaccination programme amid concern by some people about a lack of information.

Vaccination for the Pfizer-BioNTech jab got underway this month at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate.

Looking back: Harrogate district’s most popular stories of 2020

As 2020 draws to a close, the Stray Ferret looks back at the news stories that stood out among a year of extraordinary events.

Today, we reveal the most popular stories on our site since we launched at the beginning of March.

10. Events company folds after 46 years

Andrew Manby, director of Joe Manby Ltd.

The tenth most-read story on our site this year was a sad one for those involved – and for many others.

After months of uncertainty for the events industry, long-standing family firm Joe Manby Ltd was put into liquidation.

Director Andrew Manby had been warning for many months about the threat to the sector, with events unable to go ahead and no sign of improvement on the horizon.

Readers and fellow business owners expressed shock and sympathy after the news was announced.

9. Eat Out to Help Out

Restaurants and cafes took part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme

When the government scheme to encourage hospitality spending was launched, businesses in the Harrogate district signed up with enthusiasm.

Residents were also keen to show their support, as our ninth most popular story shows. With more than 100 businesses on the list, locals checked in to see where they could get a discount on dining out early in the week.

8. Six workers rescued from Ripon takeaway

In September, six people were rescued from a Ripon takeaway after local residents raised concerns about their living and working conditions.

Agencies including the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, Immigration Enforcement, Harrogate Borough Council and the police and fire service swooped on the takeaway, which was not publicly identified.

As a result, six people were placed in temporary accommodation. Officers reported several possible indicators of labour abuse but could not find any signs of modern slavery offences.

The council and the fire service said they would investigate a number of housing and fire safety issues at the property.

The story was our eighth most-read of the year.

7. Many hospitality businesses will not reopen

In his first column for the Stray Ferret, Peter Banks, MD of Rudding Park, gave an honest account of his expectations for the future of his industry.

Writing in early May, he said the first week of the pandemic’s impact was the worst of his professional life. However, in a rapidly changing climate, he soon found himself trying to work out how the hotel would reopen – and concluding that, for many, it would never happen.

The column proved hugely popular, especially with our audience on social media, and is seventh on our list of most-read stories of the year.

Today, we published Mr Banks’s reflections on the year in hospitality – including the last-minute bombshell delivered by the government to scupper plans for New Year’s Eve.

6. Long queues outside Harrogate shop after pubs close

Queues formed outside the Tesco Express shop in Harrogate’s town centre just after 10pm.

When the 10pm curfew on hospitality came in, many said it would only lead to a rush of people onto the streets all at the same time.

This appeared to be true, as the queue outside Tesco on Cambridge Road showed on Saturday, October 24 just after 10pm.

The same happened again the following week, and both stories proved popular with local readers. It’s at number six on our list.

5. Harrogate district to enter tier two restrictions

As the second national lockdown ended in early December, the decision about which tier the Harrogate district would be placed in drew a lot of attention.

Readers were eager to find out what restrictions they would face – and local businesses were also keen to know if they could open and trade in the vital few weeks before Christmas.

The story was the fifth most-read of the year. Yesterday’s announcement of the district’s move into tier three from New Year’s Eve is the most-read story in December.

4. Coach and Horses has alcohol licence revoked

Police were called to the Coach and Horses pub by concerned locals in May

In July, long-standing West Park pub the Coach and Horses had its alcohol licence revoked by Harrogate Borough Council after a dispute over their compliance with lockdown rules in May.

The pub opened to sell take-out beer, but as crowds gathered on the pavement and across the road by the Stray, police and council enforcement staff arrived.

Their accounts of the situation suggested landlord John Nelson had been “aggressive and abusive”, though at the licensing hearing his lawyer said he accepted he had made a “chronic error of judgement”.

The committee revoked Mr Nelson’s licence with the support of North Yorkshire Police, and the report on the decision was our fourth most read story of the year.

Three months later, his daughter Samantha was successful in her application for a licence to reopen the pub.

3. Police attend serious incident near Harrogate town centre

A man died and another was treated in hospital after an incident on Harcourt Drive, on the edge of Harrogate town centre.

On a quiet Sunday evening in late August, the incident shocked neighbours and the wider community. It was the third most read story of 2020 on our website.

Police later confirmed the incident was not being treated as suspicious and an inquest would be held to examine the circumstances of the man’s death.

2. Harrogate’s Stray FM to close

Owners Greatest Hits Radio announced the end of Stray FM in May

Residents of the district were shocked by the announcement in May that Stray FM would be disappearing from the airwaves.

Though owners Greatest Hits Radio described the plans as a ‘rebrand’, the reality was that there would be mostly national programming on the station from September, with one regional show each day at drivetime.

As well as the ending of a familiar brand established in 1994, community groups expressed their sadness at the loss of the station’s valuable support.

The announcement of the plans was our second most-read story of 2020.

1. Town centre roads closed by police

Police closed off Mayfield Grove junction with Bower Road. Picture: Sharon Canavar.

A police incident near the centre of town on a Friday afternoon drew our biggest audience of the year.

A man was arrested for saying he had a knife and making threats to other residents.

Officers closed a number of roads around Strawberry Dale while they dealt with the situation, leading to congestion on surrounding routes. The roads were reopened after around 90 minutes.

A second man was arrested for obstructing the police, separately to the original incident.

Biggest daily covid increase in Harrogate district for 6 weeks

Another 53 people in the Harrogate district have tested positive for coronavirus — the largest daily increase for six weeks.

Today’s figure from Public Health England is the highest since November 16, when 69 infections were recorded.

The highest figure since the start of the pandemic remains 95 on November 9, shortly after the second lockdown began.

In another worrying development, the district’s R number has increased again from 1.1 to 1.2, which means every 10 people infected will pass the virus on to another 12.

Read more:

The seven-day rate of infection for the district has risen to 126 people per 100,000. It remains the lowest in North Yorkshire.

The county average is 189 and the England average is 387.

The news comes on the day North Yorkshire moved into tier three restrictions, forcing the closure of all pubs and restaurants, except for takeaways.

My Year: Harrogate student’s ‘distant light at the end of the tunnel’

The challenges of 2020 were faced by young people, too, including year 13 student Matt Roberts. Harrogate Grammar School’s head student, studying photography, economics and English language, reflects on his experiences in the last year.

I think it is safe to say this year has been a strange one. If you had told me at the start of year 12 that I would spend half of it at home, being required to not go out, I am not quite sure how I would have responded.

But here I am. Thinking back, just like you might be. Wondering what a crazy year 2020 has been, whilst also thinking about how far we have come. For me, one of the biggest challenges was adapting to remote learning. We were not allowed in school, and as a result we had to learn from home.

It started off incredibly challenging but as time progressed, we adapted. We learned how to do online lessons on Microsoft Teams through our school iPads, and as students, we quickly became proactive, wanting to stay on top of the work to put ourselves in the best position we could for our exams this coming summer. We are in a fortunate position that our full timetable of lessons can be held remotely, setting us up for our final year of school.

However, things do remain challenging with some students across the country having to face repeated isolations. I myself had finished my third lockdown, and was hoping to come to school the next day. But unfortunately, due to rising cases in my year, on the eve I was set to return, we were all sent home until after Christmas.

Despite all of this, there have been lots of positives we can take from this year.

At school we have shown that we are able to adapt to change, and that we can pull together when we need to, and across the country this has been illustrated perfectly by the NHS. We were also fortunate enough to have Captain Sir Tom Moore to help us through those initial months, showing that there can always be something to smile about, while raising £32 million!

Although the light at the end of the tunnel may be distant, it is there, and getting nearer.

On behalf of the Harrogate Grammar School community, I want to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. Stay safe, and keep smiling!

NHS insists Harrogate Nightingale ‘can take patients if required’

The NHS has insisted the Harrogate Nightingale hospital is able to take patients despite concerns it lacks the capacity to do so.

Many people are wondering why the building remains on standby at a time when the new mutant strain of covid has sent infections soaring and put tremendous strain on hospitals.

A record 53,000 people were confirmed to have covid yesterday and hospital admissions have surpassed the peak of the first wave.

The Health Service Journal even reported yesterday there were plans to transfer patients from overloaded London hospitals to Yorkshire.

But the Harrogate Nightingale, which was set up at the town’s convention centre at breakneck speed in spring for covid patients in Yorkshire and the Humber, has yet to treat a single person with coronavirus. It has been used for CT scans.

Ripon peer Lord Newby, the Liberal Democrats leader in the House of Lords, has said the Nightingale “simply does not have the staff available to allow it to operate safely”.

Conservative MP John Redwood has called for ministers to explain why they are not using the Nightingales.

The NHS has repeatedly declined to issue more than a brief statement in response to questions from the Stray Ferret about the Nightingale or requests for interviews.

It did so again yesterday when we asked if there were still plans to use the hospital, particularly in light of reports that the London Nightingale was being dismantled.

A spokesperson for the NHS in the north east and Yorkshire said:

“The Nightingale hospitals in the north east and Yorkshire has been running a clinical imaging service since June with more than 3,000 patients receiving a diagnostic test or CT scan, and can take patients if required.”

Tier review: Harrogate district set for tougher restrictions

The Harrogate district looks set to move to a higher tier, and possibly even tier four, following a flurry of developments this afternoon.

Sharon Stolz, director of public health at City of York Council, told ITV News it was “inevitable” the city would face tougher restrictions in the coming days.

Any changes affecting York would also apply to the Harrogate district unless the government changes its policy of maintaining the same tier level across North Yorkshire.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is due to announce the outcome of the latest tier review tomorrow afternoon.

North Yorkshire is in tier two but Ms Stolz said this was “no longer sufficient to contain the spread of the virus”.

She said although the city had not seen large outbreaks yet, the numbers were creeping up.

Her comments came on the day the R number for the Harrogate district rose above one for the first time in over a month.

Ms Stolz added:

“Without some additional restrictions coming in, my worry is that we will just see the virus spread and we will start to see large outbreaks.

“So I think it is inevitable there will be some announcement tomorrow of additional restrictions for York.”

Also today, Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton said he still wanted a “super local approach” that would allow some parts of the county to stay in tier two but added:

“Regrettably, I think we can reasonably expect York and North Yorkshire to enter a higher tier in the next few days, my best guess being the early hours of New Year’s Day.

“In terms of which tier, it appears that infection rates are not dropping significantly in those areas currently under tier three restrictions.

“My view then, and I speak as the parent of a child taking their A levels this year, I would prefer a shorter, sharper, shock with wider closure of the economy together with extended financial support for businesses and with schools providing a full timetable on an online-only basis until the end of January.

“At that point, with vaccinations starting to have meaningful effect we should be through the worst of this desperately damaging crisis.”

Mr Hollinrake’s comments came after a call today with North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which represents groups fighting covid in the county.

The forum has called an urgent media briefing for tomorrow amid growing speculation of a change of tier.

Harrogate district R number rises above one

The R number for the Harrogate district has risen above one for the first time in over a month.

It means the virus is now spreading faster in the district than it is being eradicated.

The R number refers to the rate at which the virus is reproducing. The latest increase means every 10 people infected will pass it on to 11.

The sub-districts with the most infections are Starbeck and Ouseburn, Hammerton and Tockwith, which have both recorded 20 in the last seven days.

It comes as North Yorkshire is braced for a tier review tomorrow which could see the county placed under tougher restrictions.

The Harrogate district recorded a further 47 cases of coronavirus today, according to Public Health England.

It takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic up to 4,258.

The seven-day rate of infection in the district has increased to 126 per 100,000 people but remains the lowest in North Yorkshire.

Hambleton is the highest with 291 after its case average has soared in the last week.

Harrogate District Hospital also confirmed its first death since December 10 from a patient who tested positive for coronavirus.

The total number of coronavirus deaths at the hospital now stands at 107.

Will Harrogate district change tier in tomorrow’s review?

Another government tier review is scheduled for tomorrow amid rising coronavirus cases across the country.

The Harrogate district avoided harsher restrictions in last week’s review and stayed in tier two, despite other areas being placed in tier four.

However, the district has seen a gradual increase in both infections and the R number since then.

There has also been talk of tougher restrictions everywhere to combat the new mutant strain of the virus.

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which represents agencies that combat covid, has called an urgent media briefing tomorrow to respond to rising transmissions rates and Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s tier announcement.

Rising case rates

The Harrogate district’s seven-day infection rate has increased since the last tier review on December 23 but remains the lowest in the county.

Last week, the district reported a rate of 86 infections per 100,000 people. That has risen to 115.

But there is widespread concern about soaring rates elsewhere in the county, which could drag all of North Yorkshire into a higher tier.

Recently, public health bosses expressed concerns about Scarborough’s rate. But the borough’s rate, which was the highest in the county last week at 264, has since dropped to 215.

Hambleton, however, has seen its rate rocket from 100 to 242, according to the most recent figures.

The county-wide average stands at 165, which is still below the national rate.

By comparison, Peterborough, which is in tier four, has a rate of 412 cases per 100,000 people.

The Harrogate district’s much lower rate gives hope it may again escape being moved up a tier.

Hospital admissions

There is widespread national concern about the rise in covid hospital admissions.

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, warned the country was “back in the eye of the storm” after figures showed that 20,426 patients were being treated in hospitals on Monday.

The number is an increase on 18,976 recorded on April 12 during the peak of the first lockdown.

Locally, most recent figures show 14 covid patients are currently being treated at Harrogate District Hospital.

My Year: Harrogate estate agent ‘luckier than most’ amid pandemic

For businesses, it has been a challenging and worrying year, in many different ways. Tim Waring, leading estate agent and chartered surveyor at Lister Haigh, reflects on what started as a normal year but soon began to change.

Looking back over the past year, one of my happier times was a fabulous day during a group ski trip to France. We’d just had a day with blue sky and sunshine in Val D’Isere, and then the Saturday night dinner is our dining highlight of the trip.

But this tranquil setting came to an abrupt end. After the first course, we were told everything was closing that night.

It was a real wake up call given I guess we had been in our world for three or four days beforehand. My other half had ironically told me I was in a bubble and didn’t appreciate how difficult things were becoming.

It proved to be a prophetic turn of phrase. It all seems such a long time ago given everything that has happened since.

I was lucky my estate agency was only closed for two months. Since reopening, the property market has been a hive of activity, helped, in no small part, by the stamp duty incentive offered by the Chancellor.

Meanwhile, I have friends in the retail and hospitality sectors who have seen their businesses decimated after two national lockdowns and ongoing tier restrictions. Some may well not re-open in 2021.

So I cannot consider myself hard done to, when one of the things I missed out on this year was celebrating a big birthday with friends in April.

Lockdown has fast tracked my relationship with the aforementioned girlfriend to the point that I now consider we are partners, and happily in a support bubble.

But yet, one friend has died from this awful virus, and at least two others have had hard times in hospital because of it.

I might have not seen my son who lives in London for many months, but fortunately technology has allowed us to keep in contact in a way that wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago.

My grandson, Arthur, was only five months old when this wretched thing started. Now he is walking and already proving to be a typical toddler. He lives in Harrogate, so I have been able to see him regularly.

I love re-watching a video of him trying to walk and instead falling over in the leaves. Yet another reason to feel I have been luckier than most in 2020.

So that’s why, all things considered, I think I’ve been luckier than most of late. What happens next year – who knows?

When the Bank of England says things are “unusually uncertain”, maybe that says it all.

The Latin phrase carpe diem, “seize the day”, comes to mind when one reflects on the last 12 months.