As much of England was processing exactly what Monday’s government announcement on new coronavirus restrictions meant for them, leaders in one county were finishing plans to request tighter restrictions. Why?
Last Friday, MPs and council leaders in Essex were shown Covid-19 data for the county which, according to those present, warned of an exponential rise in cases for the weeks ahead.
Action was needed, they were told by Dr Mike Gogarty, director of public health and wellbeing at Essex County Council.
The number of cases in Essex has risen from just over 700 in the week to 2 October to just over 1,000 in the week to 9 October.
On Tuesday, the council formally asked the government to raise Essex’s status in the three-tier alert system from Medium (lowest tier) to High (middle tier), thereby asking for tighter social restrictions on its 1.4 million inhabitants.
It will mean households cannot visit each other in their homes. It is thought Essex is the only local authority in England to have requested tighter restrictions.
David Finch, leader at the Conservative-controlled council, said: “By acting now, we can hope to stem this increase, limiting the time that we are in these enhanced restrictions and – above all – avoiding further escalation into Very High.
“All of this will limit the damage to the economy. A healthy economy is critical to everyone having better lives in future.
“We already have one of the best track and trace operations in the country, but we will also be aiming to push its performance still higher alongside strengthening enforcement capacity and visibility.
“Making these painful decisions now will, we hope, bring dividends later.”
Dr Gogarty said: “Across the county we have moved from gradual to exponential growth with the number of cases rising exponentially.”
Essex is also home to two unitary authorities – Southend Council and Thurrock Council – that do not fall under the remit of Essex County Council.
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Rob Gledhill, leader at Thurrock, has voiced dismay at the Essex move and warned it could have far-reaching implications.
“I cannot believe that Essex County Council would make this proposal without appearing to fully consider the evidence of the impact of further restrictions it potentially also imposes on the people of Thurrock,” he said.
“The simple facts are the government have announced we are in tier one (medium alert), we have a far lower number of infections than most Essex districts and councils in the country, fortunately we have very few of our residents in hospital and even more fortunately we have had no residents die of Covid-19 since the middle of July.”
Southend has not asked to be placed in a higher risk category at the current time.
Graham Bedford, landlord at The Bell Inn in Panfield, near Braintree, told BBC Essex a shift from Medium to High risk tier, which would prevent household mixing, could affect his business “big time”.
He said the recently-introduced 22:00 BST closing time restrictions, had already cost him thousands of pounds in takings.
“Where does it stop? It [being placed in a higher tier] would affect us even more. I don’t even want to think about it. I am taking every day as it comes.”
Gavin Callaghan, Labour leader at Basildon Council, said: “Nobody wants to put restrictions on any resident or business.
“When we met last week to listen to what the director of public health was telling us about the situation, my view is we are seeing the number [of infections] doubling as each week goes by.
“One of the key questions I asked the director was if we do not go up a gear in terms of restrictions, how long will it be until the intensive care beds in Essex hospitals reach the 70-80% capacity mark? The reply was just four or five weeks.
“With that in mind, my view is we should look to nip this in the bud quicker, and save more people’s lives.”