A Harrogate man has spoken of his despair at being one of 1.7 million people told to shield again for another five weeks.
Scott Lambert, 35, has a rare autoimmune disease called behçets syndrome and is classed as clinically extremely vulnerable.
He received an email from the government yesterday advising him to extend shielding from February 21 to March 31.
Mr Lambert told the Stray Ferret he was vaccinated three weeks ago at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground and, after spending much of last year shielding and all of this year, thought the end was in sight.
So to receive the news out of the blue yesterday was “beyond unfair”, he said, adding:
“We were told the vaccine was the way out of this. Yet a week before the review date we have been told it’s a further five weeks minimum.
He said shielders were “the forgotten people in the pandemic” and he wanted to highlight their situation. He added:
“We have been locked away far more than many people over the coronavirus pandemic. It’s taking a huge strain on each and every one of us.
“Being a shielder isn’t lockdown. It’s next level lockdown. You’re constantly thinking of how transmission could occur and make you seriously ill. Yet an email is all the government felt was enough to put us through this for a further five weeks.
“We thought the vaccine was the way out. The government achieved the target of vaccinating all of the clinically extremely vulnerable and we thought we would be able to rejoin society in the new normal.”
Mr Lambert, who lives in Jennyfields, said the showground vaccination programme was well run. He added a Facebook group called Shielders Support had been extremely helpful to local shielders. But yesterday’s news came as a “shock to all”.
The email urged him to “stay at home as much as possible”, adding:
Harrogate district covid rate below 100 for first time since Christmas“Whilst the national lockdown has been effective and cases of covid are now falling, the levels of infection in the community remain high and the virus continues to pose a high risk to people across the country.
“The risk remains particularly high for those considered clinically extremely vulnerable. Therefore, the government strongly advises you to continue to follow the shielding measures that were introduced in January to help you protect yourself.”
The covid rate of infection in the Harrogate district has fallen below 100 people per 100,000 for the first time since before Christmas.
Public Health England confirmed another 22 cases today, reducing the seven-day average rate of infection to 98.
It has not been this low since December 21.
Rates shot up after Christmas, peaking at 498 on January 7.
The current overall average for North Yorkshire is 101 and the England figure is 148.
Killinghalll and Hampsthwaite is still the sub-district with the most cases, having recorded 22 in the last seven days.
Starbeck is second with 17.
Two sub-districts — Harrogate West and Pannal and Dishthorpe, Baldersby and Markington — have not had any infections in the last seven days.
No further covid deaths at Harrogate District Hospital were reported today.
Harrogate district records another 23 covid casesA further 23 covid cases have been confirmed in the Harrogate district. It is the same number of cases as yesterday.
It takes the total cases since March up to 7,006, according to today’s Public Health England figures.
Meanwhile, the district’s seven-day covid rate (latest data, February 10th) stands at 104.5 per 100,000 people.
The North Yorkshire average is 108,1 while the England rate is currently 156.8.
No further deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.
Read the Stray Ferret on Monday for interviews from the Great Yorkshire Showground vaccination centre.
A Harrogate woman has set an ambitious fundraising target after seeing first-hand the vital work done by NHS staff to treat patients with covid.
Victoria Read is hoping to raise £10,000 for Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity after her father contracted the virus and spent three months in hospital.
During that time, he was placed in an induced coma and on a ventilator for three weeks, and was so unwell at one stage in early December that his family were called into the hospital.
“They were incredible. We’ve never had to call on the NHS in that way before and to have it at such a horrible time and the scenario we were in was awful.
“We were in awe of their work and passion and patience and resilience. They never gave up on him, so he never gave up.”
Victoria’s dad was finally well enough to be moved onto a recovery ward on Boxing Day and came home last week. Though she said his road to full recovery will be long, she has already set to work on her aim of raising money for the hospital which saved his life.
So far, she has shared her plans with friends, who have donated more than £1,000 in just a few days. Current restrictions mean she can’t hold a normal fundraising event, but to keep the campaign going and reach her target, she is working on a number of ideas.
The first is “say it without flowers”, asking people to consider donating the money they might usually spend on Valentine’s Day to the charity. With so many people affected by coronavirus, or relying on the NHS to continue supporting them in other ways despite the pandemic, she hopes support will flood in to recognise the dedication of NHS staff. She said:
“We wrote letters and left WhatsApp messages for my dad, and the nurses played them to him and read to him. Although it’s 24-hour nursing care, they aren’t just looking at oxygen levels and things – they’re also caring for him, washing him and brushing his hair and making sure his beard is trimmed. The dignity they gave him was incredible.”
She added:
“It takes something like this for you to really understand covid and respect it. Some people are being very cynical about it. I would never wish this on anyone, but I don’t think you can really understand it until you’ve been through it.”
Having been forced to cancel her wedding before her dad fell ill, Victoria said 2020 was “the worst year” for her family. She hopes starting an ambitious project will help to make 2021 more positive, even with lockdown restrictions.
To donate to Victoria’s campaign, click here.
Harrogate Spring Flower Show delayed until MayThe organisers of Harrogate Spring Flower Show have announced the event will be delayed by a month as the covid vaccine is rolled out.
The smaller Spring Essentials event was due to be held in April at the Great Yorkshire Showground but has been delayed to allow more time for the vaccine to take effect across the population.
Social distancing will be in place and ticket numbers have been limited for each day of the event, now set for May 20 to 23. Normally, 60,000 people would attend the four-day event, but this year only 5,000 can attend each day.
All tickets must be bought online prior to the event. People can expect to see their usual favourites at the outdoor event, including show gardens, plant nurseries and live theatres.
The event’s venue, the Great Yorkshire Showground, is currently being used as a covid vaccination centre, with many people from across the district visiting each day to receive the vaccine.
Harrogate Flower Shows director Nick Smith said:
“We have been planning a covid-safe event using the green open spaces at the showground for many months. Based on the information available and predictions made last autumn, we had hoped that measures to combat the virus would be in place in time for us to hold Spring Essentials on our usual weekend in April.
“The new variant has clearly changed the situation across the UK and so it seems sensible to take advantage of the extra time for the measures to take effect.”
The shows are run by the North of England Horticultural Society, which says it has worked closely with the showground team and local authorities to ensure visitors can have a safe and enjoyable day out.
The organisers have said anyone who purchased a ticket for the previous dates will be contacted and offered to transfer their tickets or get a refund.
Mr Smith added:
Fifteen Harrogate postal workers self-isolating after covid case“The extra time afforded by this change of date will give us the best possible chance of delivering the show our visitors and exhibitors have told us they so badly want to see happen.”
A total of 15 postal workers in Harrogate are self-isolating following a positive covid test from a member of staff at Royal Mail’s delivery office on Claro Road.
The company said any disruption caused to the regular postal service “has been kept to a minimum” due to the flexibility of remaining staff members.
Following the positive case, the company undertook a deep clean of the site.
The Communication Workers Union and Public Health England are being kept updated.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said:
72 per cent of North Yorkshire lockdown fines issued to men“There is currently one colleague who has tested positive for coronavirus at Harrogate delivery office. We wish them a speedy recovery. Some colleagues are also self-isolating due to the test and trace app.
“We have carried out an intensive clean of the site and have organised additional cleaning of key touch points and all communal areas.
“We are keeping the CWU, PHE and colleagues updated. Any disruption to deliveries as a result of the absences, has been kept to a minimum through the dedication and flexibility of the delivery postmen and women who remain at work.”
More than seven out of 10 fines for breaches of lockdown restrictions in North Yorkshire have been handed to men, according to police figures.
North Yorkshire Police revealed yesterday it has issued 328 fixed penalty notices since the third lockdown started.
Of that number, 235 have been to men — 72 per cent of all fines issued so far. Ninety-three have been to women.
Nearly half of the fines have been to people aged 18 to 25.
A total of 160 have been issued for indoor gatherings, some of which have been for house parties.
Superintendent Mike Walker said officers have to deal with reports of house parties “every night of the week”, mainly in the Scarborough district and York.
Total number of lockdown fines issued by North Yorkshire Police since January 6. Data: North Yorkshire Police.
In Harrogate, 22 of the 34 fixed penalty notices since the third lockdown began on January 6 have been issued for being outside without good reason.
Police have handed 27 of the fines to men. However, most of the breaches have been committed by people from outside the area with just 11 notices given to local residents.
It comes as police pledged to get tougher on those who breach lockdown restrictions and said they would no longer “waste time” with rule breakers.
Superintendent Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police.
Yesterday Superintendent Walker told a meeting of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, the partnership organisation that leads the county’s response to covid, that officers continued to issue fines but had seen an improvement in the last week.
A total of 87 fines were handed out across the county in week three of lockdown compared with 134 in week two. He said:
“We are starting to see slightly better compliance.
“But we are still having to issue fixed penalty notices to people who do not believe that the regulations are there to follow.”
He added he felt the message to stay at home was getting through to most people, but a minority do not feel it applies to them.
Harrogate district bucks UK unemployment trend“People know what they should be doing and they know why they should be doing it, but they choose to ignore the warnings and the risks and choose to ignore the fact that over 100,000 people have died from the virus.
“They think that what they want to is more important or they think they won’t catch it.
“In my opinion, this is incredibly short-sighted, naive and plain wrong. This is a highly contagious and deadly virus. We’ve all seen the damage it can do and it does not discriminate.
“It only takes one contact with one contagious person who may be asymptomatic to contract the virus and potentially pass it on, an action which may end up with someone losing their life.”
The number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district has fallen slightly — bucking the national trend.
Office for National Statistics data published today reveals 3,540 people in the Harrogate district were claiming out-of-work benefits on December 10.
This is down by 85 on the November figure of 3,625.
At 3.7%, Harrogate is considerably below the UK figure of 6.3% for people claiming the benefits, which include Job Seekers’ Allowance and Universal Credit.
Universal Credit is available for some people in work as well as the unemployed.
Figures in the district have remained stable throughout the pandemic, which suggests the government furlough scheme has protected many staff from redundancy.
Today’s ONS figures reveal 5% of the UK population is unemployed, which is the highest rate for more than four years.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:
Covid cases in Harrogate district rise by 53“This crisis has gone on far longer than any of us hoped – and every job lost as a result is a tragedy,”
“Whilst the NHS is working hard to protect people with the vaccine, we’re throwing everything we’ve got at supporting businesses, individuals and families.”
A further 53 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Harrogate district today.
It brings the total diagnosed with the virus to 6,321 since the start of the pandemic.
The seven-day average rate of infection for the district has risen slightly to 292.9 per 100,000, compared to 284 yesterday.
Meanwhile, the seven-day average for the whole of North Yorkshire is now 273.3. Craven and Selby remain the districts with the highest rate in the county, each at just over 300.
No further deaths have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital in today’s figures from Public Health England.
The latest figures show the hospital is currently treating 44 inpatients with covid.
A further 45 covid cases in Harrogate districtA further 45 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Harrogate district, according to today’s Public Health England figures.
It takes the number of cases since the start of the pandemic up to 6,268.
One more death from a patient who tested positive for coronavirus has been reported at Harrogate District Hospital.
The death was recorded on January 20, according to NHS England figures, and takes the total number since March up to 122.
Meanwhile, the seven-day covid rate in the district has fallen to 284 cases per 100,000 people.
The county-wide rate is 257 and the national average 434.