Yesterday (26 Nov), the Government announced that, like most areas in the South West region, Swindon has been allocated to the ‘High Alert’ Tier 2 level. You can read what that means for everyone living and working in Swindon here. These restrictions take effect, replacing the current national restrictions, from 00:01 on Wednesday 02 December.
Our Tier 2 ‘High Alert’ level status emphasises the care and vigilance we all need to show in the weeks ahead in the run-up to and over Christmas. These new restrictions do give us a greater degree of freedom than we have seen under national restrictions, but greater personal responsibility comes with that.
While our case rates have dropped over the past week, we cannot afford to let our guard down. With restrictions being lifted next week we run a real risk that our case rates could increase quickly like they did in October. That would put pressure on our health services, put our friends and family at risk and potentially cause us to move into Tier 3 restrictions. It means we must all take care every time we leave the house or meet with anyone not in our household which will be harder than ever as we approach Christmas. If we all continue to follow guidance carefully we can lower our case rates but it will need every single one of us to do our bit.
Today we have launched our ‘Let’s do it for our GWH’ campaign to show the impact the recent spike in cases has had on the 600+ people who have required hospital treatment for COVID-19 at the GWH and also on the hospital itself. By helping to stop the spread in the weeks ahead, we can help free up hospital beds and capacity to provide the vital medical care and treatment that we all depend on.
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