'Worrying patterns of infection emerging' in Cheshire East

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Cheshire East Council remains concerned about the increase in Covid-19 cases across the borough.

Cheshire East was designated as an Enhanced Response Area on 14 June, but since then cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant have continued to rise and not just in Macclesfield and Crewe, but more recently in Congleton, Middlewich and Sandbach.

Council teams in public health, education and regulatory services along with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS partners and neighbouring local authorities, are all working together to ensure the outbreaks are closely monitored and additional testing resources have been brought into the borough along with mobile vaccination pop-ups, to help curb the latest increase of Covid-19 positive cases.

Dr Matt Tyrer, director of public health at Cheshire East Council, said: "We have all worked together for such a long time over the last sixteen months to keep people safe and I want to thank everyone for following the guidance.

"But despite all our efforts, we are now seeing worrying patterns of infection emerging. We can't afford to become complacent otherwise we will keep seeing rates rise and our schools and businesses will continue suffering disruption.

"We all have to be socially responsible and do the right thing for ourselves and for each other. This includes young people as the majority of new cases are in the 10 to 39 age group and whether you are a young person or an adult, it's in our hands to do the right thing."

Councillor Jill Rhodes, Cheshire East Council adults and health committee chair, said: "We are so close to our lives returning to normal, but now is not the time to let our guard down. Hands, space, face, fresh air, along with getting both jabs when they are offered to you along with regular testing, is more important than ever."

For more information on testing, vaccinations and self-isolation support, go to the council's webpage at: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/covid19

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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

John Fallows
Wednesday 7th July 2021 at 2:21 pm
Maybe someone should let the government know that "now is not the time to let our guard down" !!! Looking forward to seeing how letting everybody crowd together in confined spaces without masks is going to help (NOT!).
Peter Croome
Wednesday 7th July 2021 at 3:12 pm
John Fallows is absolutely correct.
John Clegg
Wednesday 7th July 2021 at 8:58 pm
The govt won't care or be bothered.
They'll just blame you & me for taking our own responsibility and not correctly following their ever-so-clear guidelines.
Vince Chadwick
Thursday 8th July 2021 at 8:31 am
The calm and understated Dr John Campbell on YouTube calls these latest proposals 'the UK Experiment', seeing it as a move to a herd immunity model. Others are more outspoken, saying Johnson has simply capitulated in the fight against Covid.

Infections (mostly of the Delta variant) are rising at a truly alarming rate in the UK. Chris Whitty expects 100,000 cases per day and it may well go much higher than that. Thanks to the success of the vaccines (an NHS success as it was thankfully kept out of the hands of Tory cronies, unlike PPE and the £35 BILLION failed Test & Trace system) the direct link between infections and deaths has been largely broken - for now. However, given that most of the world is un-vaccinated and will remain so for some time yet, the virus has ample opportunity to mutate, which of course it will. There is every chance that some of those mutations will side-step the vaccines.

However, that aside, more infections WILL mean more hospital admissions and more deaths, just not at anything like the rate we saw prior to the vaccination program. There will be a great deal more of the virus around if Johnson's proposals go ahead, so perhaps there will be more cases of 'Long Covid'. If you are double-vaccinated (some people can't be) and if you do not suffer reduced immunity through illness or medical treatment, this 'UK Experiment' might work for you. Until a new game-changing variant comes along.

Mask wearing is altruistic; it protects others from a potentially infected wearer more than it protects the wearer from a potentially infected anti-masker. Making the personal choice to wear one will not offer you much protection if others less socially responsible decide to exercise their right to go unmasked - and they will. Giving anti-maskers the oxygen of official consent at the time of an exponentially-rising infection rate hardly seems wise.

Manchester's Mayor Andy Burnham wants to see mask wearing continue to be compulsory on public transport, which unlike pubs and restaurants many people have no choice but to use. He actually has the power to mandate it on the Metrolink trams but won't be doing so, because, as he says, "with no government mandate on public transport mask wearing it would be unenforceable on the trams and merely a source of conflict".

If 'The UK Experiment' doesn't work, it will be very difficult to put the genie back into the bottle. How lucky do YOU feel?
Lynne Fowler
Thursday 8th July 2021 at 3:28 pm
Vince - the 'UK Experiment' was already underway some time ago with more people 'getting together' in ever larger numbers, masks being discarded, social distancing lax or ignored, so the official end to what's left of restrictions won't make that much difference to some. My family and I, like millions of others, have done everything we've been asked / told to do; we've stayed away from each other, worn masks, washed our hands a dozen times a day, sanitised everything, stayed home, missed family occasions, cancelled holidays, you name it, we've complied - but no, we won't be wearing masks unless absolutely necessary, and we will be using our judgement on that - what more can we do? 'Most of the world is un-vaccinated' you say - we can't all stay living under these restrictions as it will never happen, and I agree that now is the right time to lift the remaining restraints - 'How lucky do YOU feel? you ask; I don't need to feel lucky, but I do feel safe.
Pete Taylor
Thursday 8th July 2021 at 8:33 pm
@Vince Chadwick, I’m actually beginning to wonder if all those Agenda 21 theorists might not have a valid point.

There really does seem to be a UK Government initiative to reduce the world population.
Vince Chadwick
Friday 9th July 2021 at 7:45 am
I think it's simpler than that, Pete. Johnson just does not care. He is driven by populism. He has no plan, no strategy, displays no leadership; he just reacts and jumps in the direction he thinks Tory voters want to go, or what suits his political ambitions (hence leaving the door open for 2 weeks for the delta variant [perhaps it should be re-named the 'Johnson variant'?] to enter UK while he desperately chased a trade deal with India. Anything to fill the massive brexit trade void).

He claims he is leaving mask wearing to 'personal discretion', completely ignoring that an important aspect of government is implementing rules that protect the populace from the actions of others - such as enforcing speed limits on roads; we don't leave those to 'personal discretion'.

Mask wearing protects others rather than that protecting the wearer, so while we face an exponential rise in the covid infection rate, removing the requirement to wear masks in shops and on public transport (places where one may have no choice but to go) is a populist-driven abdication of care by Johnson's government.
Vince Chadwick
Sunday 11th July 2021 at 11:26 am
122 scientists and leading medics have published a joint letter in 'The Lancet' absolutely condemning the proposed upcoming so-called 'Freedom Day'. They held a Skype meeting to discuss the issues and the video of that is well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYTyi2pFXxk&t=346s