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.”

Bar owners and managers have expressed concern about the possibility of lockdown measures including curfews being introduced, as warnings have been issued around North Yorkshire.

Other areas of the country have seen a 10pm curfew introduced on bars and a ban on people mixing outside their households, in an effort to curb rising infection rates.

While no such restrictions are in place in North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Selby are now on Public Health England’s “watch list” because of their growing figures.

The Stray Ferret has spoken to some late-night bars in Harrogate about how this would impact their business.

Wetherspoons on Parliament Street is open for customers until 1am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and until midnight every other night. Claire Demain, a shift leader at Wetherspoons, told the Stray Ferret that another lockdown would be “catastrophic”.

“We are quite concerned – we are starting to think, ‘are we going to be next?’. An earlier closing time would impact us significantly, especially on a weekend when the majority of our trade is from younger people and we do take a fair bit of money on drink and food after 10pm.

“Being locked down for three months to start with was very detrimental… We have just got into a flow of things again and sales are picking up so if we get locked down again it would be catastrophic, because we survive on people being able to come out for a drink…

“I don’t know how we would financially or mentally recover from it again.”

Mojo, Harrogate

Mojo bar on Parliament street is another to express the “devastating” impact a 10pm curfew would have on business.

James Hudson, a spokesperson for Mojo, told us:

“The impact of closing our business at 10pm would be absolutely devastating, especially after our teams have worked so hard over the last few months implementing and working to new guidelines.

“Finding a balance between curbing this virus while not destroying businesses and livelihoods is challenging and not one I feel we have come close to managing. The timing of these new restrictions seems to be in line with colleges and universities reopening. I am not convinced this action will make any real difference.”

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However, not all bars are totally against the curfew.

Jay Smith, who has owned Montey’s bar since 1996, told us that it wouldn’t be “the worst idea in the world”.

Montey’s currently closes at 2am, though before COVID it was open until 4am. Mr Smith said:

“If you were sat in front of your economics professor, he would tell you to be worried, but you have to think that people are losing their lives and loved ones and that your staff – many of which have worked for you for years – are being exposed to people on a regular basis.

“If authorities come to the balanced decision that it’s dangerous and it needs to be calmed down for while then that’s the way it is.”

With Scarborough and Selby now on Public Health England’s covid watchlist after an increase in cases, Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, has urged people to be vigilant and follow the rule of six.

North Yorkshire’s director of public health has called for people to remain vigilant despite the county being “way off” a local lockdown.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant said the average number of cases of coronavirus in the county remains low, with areas like Harrogate averaging around 10 cases per week.

Currently, 736 cases have tested positive in the district, with 2,601 in the wider county according to Public Health England figures.

But recent local lockdowns in Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale have raised concern that similar measures could be taken in the county

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A local lockdown was imposed in parts of West Yorkshire following fears of a second spike in coronavirus infections. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the prevalence of the virus was “likely to be rising” in England.

But Dr Sargeant said the county is “way off” the rate of cases compared with areas on the government’s watchlist, such as Barnsley. The rate of cases in North Yorkshire is currently at around 420 per 100,000 people, but the South Yorkshire town is nearly double that at 821.

However, Dr Sargeant told the Stray Ferret that people should remain vigilant despite the low number of cases. He said:

“We have to be vigilant because things can change rapidly and it does not take much to import cases from areas like West Yorkshire.

“A lot of this is in people’s control and the virus itself has not really changed. The same things we need to battle it has not changed.”

It comes after, last week, figures from Public Health England showed an increase of six cases in the Spofforth, Burn Bridge and Huby area.

But Dr Sargeant said an increase in testing and the council’s track and trace system has led to the authority tackling cases early.

For him, the method of tackling the virus locally was to test aggressively and investigate further.

Dr Sargeant added that knowing who you are spending time with was a good way of avoiding the virus. He said:

“If you can confidently recount who your contacts are then that is a good start. I would not be confident if you did not know who they were.”