Northamptonshire ‘still in serious trouble’ as data shows county is closer to Tier 3 than Tier 1

A council leader has warned that Northamptonshire is ‘still in serious trouble’ after its Tier 2 status was announced earlier this week.

New data, revealed by the director of Public Health Northamptonshire at this week’s weekly Covid-19 press briefing, shows the county is closer to Tier 3 than it is to Tier 1.

The graph, detailed here, led the leader of Northampton Borough Council to remind residents of the seriousness of the situation as he promoted them to ‘act like we’re in Tier 3’.

Councillor Jonathan Nunn said: “In the run up to the announcement I wondered if we would be Tier 3 because we are still in serious trouble.

“If there is one message I think it’s act like we are in Tier 3.

“Bear in mind to the north, you have only got to go as far as Market Harborough and you’re in Tier 3 and that’s a short trip down the road.

“It’s right on our doorstep.

“It’s still an important and really dangerous thing here with us, but on our doorstep it’s even worse, so we have just got to act like we’re in Tier 3 and keep pushing with all the precautions.”

The tiers each county in the country finds themselves in will be reviewed by central Government every 14 days, with the next review scheduled for December 16.

Lucy Wightman, director of Public Health Northamptonshire, cannot foresee whether the county’s tier will change before Christmas, however is expecting case increases after the relaxation of restrictions over the festive period, so is keen for the county to be in the best possible position prior to the break.

Ms Wightman said: “We are going to be reviewed in a fortnight’s time.

“What we do want to do is get ourselves into the best possible position before the relaxation position because that definitely will have an impact. We saw that just before lockdown.

“I think it’s quite logical to expect a similar change in our case rate immediately after Christmas and that’s the point at which pressure on the NHS is the highest.

“Therefore we all need to take responsibility for our actions over the Christmas period and do absolutely what we can to make sure that if we stand a chance of stepping down and also protecting our NHS services.

“I fully expected any changes to be taken into consideration in two weeks' time, but either way we have got to be able to prepare ourselves for what will be a very difficult period after Christmas and make sure we put ourselves in the most positive position as possible.”

To find out more about what was said at this week’s press conference, read the live blog here.

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