"We're not through this yet" - South Yorkshire's Covid rates among highest in England
Should we be worried as lockdown restrictions continue to ease?
Last updated 26th Mar 2021
Public health bosses are urging caution as South Yorkshire heads into more lockdown easing with coronavirus rates among the highest in England.
Barnsley and Rotherham are in the top ten local authorities, with all four council areas in our county in the top twenty.
Director of Public Health for Rotherham Ben Anderson says vaccinations and cases in over 60s are going in the right direction in the town but people still need to be careful:
"Rotherham's definitely within that patch of subbonly high transmission. A lot of our workforce have to go to work - they're in manufacturing, construction and processing jobs that you just can't do from home. And I think that does make a real difference.
"Although it's been harder to get the numbers down, we have consistentely been coming down, just at a slow rate. And I think that will continue, but it is at more risk as we go into the roadmap and the opening up of more sectors. We just have to remember we're not through this yet.
"Some of the easings are going to bring more social contact but actually one of the reasons for Rotherham's enduring transmission is we have more people going to work and having some of those contacts anyway."
All parts of South Yorkshire have seen coronavirus cases falling during the third lockdown but, as in other parts of the UK, that is starting to show signs of leveling off.
And the rates are higher than a lot of other parts of the country.
Barnsley's rate is currently the second highest in England - the town's Director of Public Health Julia Burrows agrees that that's to do with the characteristics of the people living there:
"In a way it's not surprising because where we have a population that isn't as affluent as other places, where we have a lot of underlying health conditions, where we have a lot of people working in low-paid frontline jobs, any health threat is going to impact that type of population much more than other ones.
"Because we're identifying more cases because we're doing a lot of testing, it doesn't necessarily mean that we've got more virus circulating in Barnsley. It might just mean that we're identifying more of it. So it's really important to think about the other indicators, so things like the number of vaccinations."
On Monday the lockdown easing will continue, with six people being allowed to meet outside and the 'stay home' message changing to 'stay local'.
Two weeks after that, on 12th April, pub beer gardens are expected to reopen.
Public health bosses are urging us to remember that, while the vaccination rollout is going well, the pandemic isn't over yet.
Julia tells us it's important people are still sticking closely to the rules:
"I think that's important everywhere - not just given the rates in Barnsley. Because we are in a precarious position and I'm really keen that we in Barnsley, and everywhere, can start seeing our family and friends a bit more."