As a second national lockdown looms over the country, Lincolnshire is still battling with the three-tier lockdown restrictions.
The three-tier system ranks areas of the country as medium, high or very high risk, based on the number of cases per 100,000 people and infection rates.
Lincolnshire is currently in the lowest tier (medium), which means it’s following general measures to tackle the novel coronavirus, such as a 10pm curfew on the hospitality industry and abiding by the rule of six.
The total number of cases across Greater Lincolnshire is now nearly five times higher than last month’s figures, at over 4,000.
Lincolnshire borders on South Yorkshire, which is currently in the highest risk tier (very high), causing concerns that a further rise in cases may be seen.
Health bosses are currently expecting more areas of the U.K. to go into higher tiers in the coming weeks – which may include some areas of Lincolnshire – if a second national lockdown doesn’t come into force.
Tony McGinty, joint assistant director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council, has said there are currently “no discussions” with government agencies about the numbers in Lincolnshire.
He continued: “I believe that more areas of the country, including potentially some areas of Lincolnshire, may be asked to consider going up a tier, or we may decide that we simply need to go up to tier two to get additional control measures in place.”
Mr McGinty added that this will be happening across the county in the coming weeks, leading up to November. Otherwise, he said, “we could face a very long winter”.
“The longer we allow areas that can manage it to have more economic, social and well-being freedom, the better.”
According to the latest government data, Lincolnshire’s latest seven-day rate was 102.1 cases per 100,000 people.
In Lincoln, the highest infection rates (in the most recent figures) are present at the Wharf and University (337.7 cases), and Boultham and New Boultham (323.5 cases).
These numbers can be hugely affected by population density, as well as smaller localised outbreaks in locations such as schools, care homes or factories.
And health bosses also warn that the more figures are localised, the more variation may be seen on a week-to-week basis.
Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln, is hopeful that Lincoln can remain in tier one.
“If we go back to the start of the national lockdown back in March this year, Lincoln and Lincolnshire had a number of low incidents in comparison to other places of the country,” Mr McCartney said, in an interview with The Lincolnite.
He continued: “The vast majority of people in the county adhered to the guidelines that were put in place and thank goodness they did.
“We still have those lower rates in Lincoln and across the county which I’m obviously pleased about. I understand that there’s different cases with much higher incidents and at different stages of the virus, but I hope that we can remain in tier one.”