Mike Hill MP: PM acting too early in getting schools and works re-opened

It’s also the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale who worked in field hospitals during the Crimean War and whose name has been given over to the newly built hospitals on the frontline fighting COVID-19.

I sincerely hope the Nightingales are never needed at their full capacity but, just like our amazing nurses, they stand ready to help us in our darkest hours.

VE Day saw the town come alive in celebration of 75 years since the end of the Second World War.

The celebrations reminded me that if there’s one positive that this dreadful lockdown has given back to us, it has to be the return of our sense of neighbourliness.

Looking out for each other has been the hallmark of the last six weeks and long may that continue after we defeat Coronavirus.

After a long “Stay At Home” Bank Holiday period and headlines predicting better times to come following the Prime Minister’s long awaited lockdown statement on Sunday, confusion reigned.

The rules of lockdown had changed: no longer should we “Stay at Home, Protect our NHS and Save Lives” we now have to “Stay Alert, Control the Virus and Save Lives”.

Now, we all want to see an end to the lockdown; we all want to meet our relatives and loved ones; we all want to see a kind of normality again; we all want to see shops and pubs and restaurants re-open, workers in work and the economy on the road to recovery, but not at the expense of lives and the further spread of the virus.

It is my firm belief that the Prime Minister is acting too early in his encouragement to go back to work and send our children back to school.

Hartlepool is not yet at the peak of the crisis and I urge you to proceed with extreme caution if you are returning to work or planning to leave your home for any non-essential outing.

Stay at home (as far as possible).

Protect our NHS. Save lives.