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02
Dec 2020
Harrogate district health bosses expect 'long journey' to tier one
With infection rates in North Yorkshire nearly double those in tier one areas, any hopes of the county moving into tier one before Christmas appear slim, health chiefs said today.
Coronavirus testing site on Dragon Road, Harrogate.
Health bosses in the Harrogate district said today they expect it to be a "long journey" from tier two to tier one.
The government is due to review the tiers every two weeks, which means the first opportunity to change will be on December 16.
But with infection rates in North Yorkshire nearly double those in tier one areas, any hopes of change before Christmas appear slim.
Richard Webb, director of adult social care at the county council, said at a coronavirus media briefing today:
"We need to work really hard to stay at tier two and hopefully reduce in due course to tier one.
"I think the advice that we are getting is that it might be quite a long journey to get out of tier two and into tier one.
"I know there will be some parts of the county that are very anxious to see that change. So we are going to have to continue to work hard to drive infection rates down."
Read more:
- Harrogate hospital reports 100th coronavirus death
- Harrogate district covid rates fall by two-thirds during lockdown
Infection rates have shrunk considerably since the second half of November.
The Harrogate district's seven-day average rate of infection is now 90 people per 100,000. This is lower than both North Yorkshire and England, whose rates are 104 and 152 respectively.
The R number for the district, which refers to how rapidly the virus is spreading in the community, has fallen again this week from 0.6 to 0.5. This means every 10 people with covid will infect five.
Public Health England reported another 25 cases today.
Killinghall and Hampsthwaite is by some distance the district's covid hotspot. It has recorded 27 infections in the last seven days.
The next highest sub-districts are Harrogate West and Pannal and Ouseburn, Hammerton and Tockwith, both of which have had 14.
Killinghall and Hampsthwaite actually has the fourth highest number of infections of all the sub-districts in North Yorkshire.
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