I write this just after the Government announced Bedford Borough has been moved to Tier 4. Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes along with other areas also moved into Tier 4.
We have seen a large increase in cases over the last couple of weeks across Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. Here in Bedford Borough we have seen 457 cases in the seven days up to December 13, which was double the previous week’s total.
You can see the latest snapshot at https://www.bedford.gov.uk/social-care-health-and-community/public-health/coronavirus/ along with the latest guidance and information.
The Government did not ask my opinion on the decision to move Bedford Borough into Tier 4, or indeed Tier 3.
I have repeated my ask to the Government, that they ensure there is enough financial support for local business and organisations, especially for our hospitality industry.
I have also asked that Bedford Borough be given more testing and access to the vaccine rollout.
You can also see the new regulations at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-4-stay-at-home.
Please do follow these new regulations and stay at home as much as possible, minimise the amount of people that you see, and keep following the ‘hands, space, face’ advice so we can come out of Tier 4, it is possible by the time you read this we may have already stepped down.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all readers a Happy New Year.
2020 was a very challenging year, and I would especially like to thank all frontline staff in the NHS, emergency service, the Council and in our transport and hospitality sectors for working in very difficult situations.
We all hope 2021 will be a much better year. We now have a number of Coronavirus vaccines and these will be rolled-out in the coming months which should help us return to normality.
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