North Yorkshire tier downgrade next week unlikely, say health chiefs

North Yorkshire’s leading public health experts have cautioned against hopes the county could be downgraded to tier one before Christmas.

The government is due to review the tier system next week.

North Yorkshire, which is in tier two, has a seven-day average infection rate of 103 people per 100,000. This is considerably below the England average of 151.

The Harrogate district’s average is even lower at 93. It fell sharply in the second half of November but has stabilised lately.

Some local areas have seen virtually no infections for weeks but pubs and restaurants have stayed shut because of the tier restrictions.

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This morning Richard Webb, director of adult care at North Yorkshire County Council, told a media briefing of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which represents key groups in the fight against covid, that case figures were “relatively stable”.

But he said they were still higher than he would like and the county needed to continue to get them down.

Mr Webb said:

“I suspect we may well see caution prevail just simply because everyone is worried about a spike in the New Year.

“But, let’s see. It is all to play for.”

Meanwhile, Dr Lincoln Sergeant, director of public health at the council, said he hoped the county will be downgraded after Christmas.

He added the county needed to get infections down.

Dr Sergeant said:

“It’s important for us to keep the momentum going. I think we can aim for getting to tier one, it’s certainly within possibility if we keep momentum going and if we keep working together.

“But we should not be disappointed if that doesn’t happen before Christmas.”

The briefing also revealed seven sites across North Yorkshire are expected to start offering the coronavirus vaccine from next week.

North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, the body which buys medical services in the county, said it will reveal the location of the sites once they are finalised.

North Yorkshire’s public health chief leaves

North Yorkshire’s director of public health, who has been at the forefront of the county’s coronavirus response, is leaving.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant will take up a new post as director of public health in Torbay, Devon.

Louise Wallace, assistant director for health and integration in North Yorkshire, will succeed him on an interim basis on Saturday, while retaining her current role.

Ms Wallace was the director of public health for Hartlepool from 2012 to 2017.

North Yorkshire County Council, which announced the news today, said in a statement Dr Sargeant had been instrumental in establishing the county’s public health service since the transfer of responsibilities from the NHS to local government in April 2013.

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Louise Wallace.

Richard Webb, the county council’s director of health and adult services, added:

“Lincoln has worked hard in providing public health leadership and expertise as we respond to the covid pandemic.

“Louise takes on this role at a critical time for public health. At this stage in the pandemic we must maintain our resolve and support for people in reducing the infection rate.”

Tier one ‘did not work’, says North Yorkshire public health boss

North Yorkshire’s top public health boss has said tier one lockdown restrictions “did not work” and had “no teeth”.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at the county council, said the measures did not give people “a sense of seriousness about the situation”.

The England lockdown is due to end on December 2 and county council leaders said they expect to hear from ministers on what restrictions will be introduced at the end of next week.

North Yorkshire was under tier one restrictions, which meant people followed national guidance with no further restrictions.

But Dr Sargeant told a press briefing of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, a partnership of emergency agencies, that those in tier two restrictions tackled coronavirus better.

He said:

“There are some things we know for certain. Tier one did not really work, it did not give the public a sense of the seriousness of the situation.

“It just did not have the teeth. We were saying that for some time, we were saying that the issues in North Yorkshire were around household spread and mixing.

“It was not until tier two that you really had measures that would address that particular issue.”

He added that there needed to be “consistency and consensus” from political leaders over what the restrictions will be after lockdown in order for the public to take measures seriously.

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Meanwhile, Dr Sargeant said data appeared to show infections were “plateauing”, but stopped short of saying lockdown measures had worked.

He said:

“We are hopefully beginning to see, particularly in the data around hospitalisations, perhaps the beginning of a plateauing.

“I am very hesitant to say that this is definitely showing a sustained effect of lockdown. We expect to see the effect of lockdown beginning to show this week into next.

“But there is some suggestion that we might be levelling off and we need to keep watching that and hope that it is sustained.”

The briefing also revealed the number of covid patients at Harrogate District Hospital has remained flat. Currently, 27 people are being treated compared with 28 last week.

Harrogate’s testing site on Dragon Road is averaging 180 tests per day, well below its capacity of 320.

Yesterday, Public Health England figures showed a further 48 positive tests in the district, taking the total cases since March up to 3,204.

Following a change by Public Health England into how it records cases, the total number of cases in the district has fallen by 201.

Positive tests are now recorded by where the test is carried out, instead of where the person is registered with the NHS.

North Yorkshire ‘will be prepared’ for covid vaccine

Health bosses in North Yorkshire have said they will be prepared to rollout a coronavirus vaccine in December, if it is available.

Amanda Bloor, accountable officer at North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which buys medicines for the county, said it was working with national officials to make sure plans are in place to offer the vaccine.

It comes as preliminary results of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine showed that it was 90% effective after being tested on 43,500 people.

Ms Bloor told a press briefing yesterday of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, a partnership of agencies that tackle emergencies, there was “significant work” to do on the safety of the vaccine but the CCG would be ready for a rollout next month.

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She said:

“Although there is some uncertainty on timescales, we will be ready in December to deploy a vaccine if it is available.

“But it is likely that wider vaccination will take place after Christmas and into the New Year. Any vaccination that happens before Christmas would be for very vulnerable groups.

“We are planning to be ready for this with our partners.”

“Even when we do have a vaccine, we still need to observe any social distancing measures, lockdown measures and the guidance around hand washing and hygiene.”

‘Don’t contact your GP’

Ms Bloor urged patients not to contact GP practices about the vaccine as it is not available. She said once it is, the CCG will be “very clear about the process”.

The government has said that any vaccine will be offered to the public in phases.

The first phase will include people living and working in care homes, those over the age of 80, then over 75, over 70, over 65 and then over 60.

It will then be offered to adults with health conditions that put them at risk, before it is given to those over the age of 55 and then 50.

The vaccine is given in two doses, three weeks apart.

‘Cautiously optimistic’

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, welcomed the preliminary results of the Pfizer vaccine.

Dr Sargeant said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the results but added there needed to be “long-term behavioural change” to overcome the virus.

He said:

“Any new drug or any new vaccine, the preliminary results are always going to be rosey for a variety of reasons.

“It is likely that when this vaccine is deployed fully that the effectiveness will be somewhat less than 90%.

“But it is still positive news, because it says that we have a vaccine that not only does the biology in terms of triggering the anti-bodies but in practice it can actually prevent infection.”

Meanwhile, a further 75 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across the Harrogate district according to Public Health England figures today.

It takes the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic up to 3,178.

The seven-day rolling average rate of covid infections for the district has risen above 300 people per 100,000 for the first time.

The rate, which was 160 just over a fortnight ago, is now 307, which is above the England average of 254.

Discussions ‘ongoing’ over moving North Yorkshire into tier two

Discussions are ongoing over whether to move North Yorkshire into tier two of the local lockdown restrictions.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health for North Yorkshire, said today that although the county’s infection rate was low compared with its neighbours, it was still influenced by what goes on in surrounding areas.

Dr Sargeant told a press briefing of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which is a partnership of organisations that respond to emergencies:

“We have to consider that North Yorkshire is surrounded by areas that are already in higher tiers or moving in that direction.

“We have to consider that although our rates have thankfully remained lower than most of our neighbours, we will probably still be part of discussions that will take in what is happening with our neighbours.

“That will probably colour how the discussions about further interventions might occur. We need to be mindful of that.

“We have to balance what is needed to control infections against the considerations from our business leaders in terms of what impact restrictions might have on the hospitality sector in particular.”

North Yorkshire currently sits in tier one, but is surrounded by tier two areas including York and West Yorkshire.

A move into tier two would ban gatherings with other households indoors.

Dr Sargeant said public health bosses in North Yorkshire and elsewhere in the county were in “ongoing discussions” with government about what tier the wider area, which would also include East Riding of Yorkshire, York, Hull, North East and North Lincolnshire should be in.

However, officials said any decision on moving the region up a tier would be made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

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Dr Sargeant added that, if the county did change tier, there was a lack of clarity on how an area could move back down.

He added:

“If and when North Yorkshire were to move into tier two, it would be important for us to understand what would be the benchmarks and indicators that would signal that we have been successful in the various measures and step back down into tier one restrictions.”

Dan Jarvis, Mayor of Sheffield City region, confirmed this morning that a deal had been agreed with government to place South Yorkshire into tier three.

The movement of areas into tiers has raised concern over people travelling between different level of restrictions.

Superintendent Mike Walker, gold commander for covid response at North Yorkshire Police, said, while the force could not enforce limits on travel, people should follow the tier guidance.

He added:

“But for the public of North Yorkshire and the City of York who are worried what I can say is that officers will be patrolling, they will be visible and they will absolutely be enforcing face coverings and the rule of six as they have been doing throughout the pandemic.”