Coronavirus: Sussex Health Officials Urge Residents 'Not To Relax Efforts' Next Week

Following the government's announcement that Sussex will be placed under Tier 2 restrictions next week, health officials have called on residents not to relax their efforts.

East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove will be placed under the 'High Alert' level after December 2, meaning it is an area with a higher or rapidly rising level of infections, where some additional restrictions need to be in place.

The majority of the country will be under Tier 2 restrictions when the national lockdown ends next week, meaning people cannot socialise with anyone they do not live with or who is not in a support bubble in any indoor setting.

The 'rule of 6' applies in outoor settings.

According to government data, cases across Sussex were dropping in the seven days to November 24, with a total of 17,966 positive cases of coronavirus recorded between the three authorities on Tuesday.

Tony Hill (pictured left), Director of Public Health for West Sussex, told More Radio he wasn't surprised when West Sussex was placed in Tier 2 but he would have liked to have known a bit sooner so the authority could prepare.

He said:

"Clearly any restrictions are difficult for businesses, I completely understand that, but it is really important that we keep this infection down.

"Many business will still be able to continue to trade but in a different way to normal.

"With the continued support of people in West Sussex we will be able to drive the infection down even further, it is going down at the moment.

"We need to keep up that effort to keep it down and then hopefully before Christmas we may be able to move down into tier one.

"We are working with our partners in health, local government and in the communities to help people across West Sussex understand what the new tier system means for them and what they need to do to follow the rules.

"More detail about the restrictions is available on the gov.uk website. Please adhere to the national restrictions until we move to local measures on 2 December, and remember hands, face, space to help keep West Sussex Safe."

Alistair Hill (pictured right), Director of Public Health for Brighton and Hove, said cases in the city have been decreasing over the past week and that shows people are taking the lockdown seriously.

He added:

"The point of lockdown is to restrict the opportunities for people to gather and potentially spread Covid. Our stats this week suggest that lockdown is working for us. 

“So I want to thank everyone who has helped to reduce the rate of transmission in the city during lockdown. But I am continuing to ask that we all keep this up when we go into Tier 2 next week.

“We’ve seen the numbers of cases rise and fall dramatically over the past month. We know we still have a worrying number of cases within our most vulnerable communities.

"When lockdown ends next week, it’s really important that we don’t relax our efforts.”

Darrell Gale (pictured left), Director of Public Health for East Sussex said putting the area in the high risk tier reflected the 'uncomfortable truth' that cases are 'still rising quite steeply rather than coming down'.

Mr. Gale said:

"For months we’ve had one of the lowest infection rates in the country. But we’ve never been insulated from the risks of Covid spreading rapidly in our community and we’re at a point where that may be starting to happen, with 136 cases per 100,000 of population over the last seven days.

"This is still below the national average, but it won’t stay that way unless we act now to reverse the upward direction the virus is taking in East Sussex. All of us have responsibility for what happens next. 

"By following the rules set out for high risk areas, we can start to turn things around. In particular, I’d urge everyone to avoid crowds, reduce your travel and  social contact as much as possible and if you must meet others, do it outside if you can. 

"As well as following the regulations we all have choices to make. Reflect on who you really need to see at this time (or at Christmas). Think about how you'll avoid crowds, especially in shops and marketplaces.  If you really need to go Christmas shopping for instance, why not do it at less busy times?

"It will be many months before vaccinations can alter the overall path of the virus. But we can do that immediately by thinking about the rules we must follow and the effect of the actions each of us take. I’d love to see East Sussex moved out of the high-risk category, and I’m sure you would too.

"So let’s do something about it together."