Dorset health boss warns against easing restrictions too quickly

By Josh Wright, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Moving Dorset into Tier 1 coronavirus restrictions too soon could cause more harm than good, it has been warned.

Thursday’s announcement that the county would be placed into Tier 2 prompted concerns from the hospitality industry and was opposed by most MPs.

But Dorset’s director of public health said moving into the lower tier had to be done “at the right time” to avoid a quick return to tighter restrictions.

Infection rates in the county have fallen sharply since the national lockdown began but there are still more people in hospital beds than there were at the peak of the first wave earlier this year.

As of Thursday, there were more than 140 people with the coronavirus being treated in the county’s hospitals whilst the maximum reached in the spring was 134.

Thursday’s announcement that the entirety of Dorset would be placed in Tier 2 drew criticism from most MPs and hospitality businesses.

But the county’s director of public health, Sam Crowe, said infection rates would need to continue falling before a move was considered.

The government is due to review its tier decisions two weeks after they come into force on Wednesday.

It bases its decisions on five criteria; overall case rates; the rate of infection among over-60s and related care impact; whether rates are increasing or decreasing; the positivity rate; and pressure on local NHS systems.

Mr Crowe said infection rates were falling but that the decrease had been slower in the over-60s group due to hospital outbreaks, particularly at Poole and Royal Bournemouth hospitals, and was still at 132 per 100,000.

“Although there are lots of people in hospital at the moment with Covid-19, some of them have acquired it while in hospital,” he said.

“I’m hoping that as we begin to get a grip on those outbreaks we should see an improvement in the over-60s infection rate.”

He said the most effective way of preventing infection was to limit social contact “as much as possible” and said it was vital social distancing was observed after the end of the lockdown.

“The first thing we’ll be looking for is a sustained fall and if those infection rates continue to fall while we’re in Tier 2 then that will give us confidence that when we come out into Tier 1 we’re not just going to bounce back really quickly,” he added.

“We’re reviewing just how effective our local control measures are and thinking very carefully about our plans for the next few weeks and months.

“We do have the promise of a vaccine but it’s our assessment that we’re going to continue to have Covid-19 in our communities.

“We’ll be using that evidence in any of the discussions we have with government and when it comes to putting forward our case for review we think we’ve got a good track record locally to stand up a really good response.

“But my public health advice would be ‘let’s not go too soon’ because it would be a shame if we have to bounce back really quickly.”