Hartlepool facing 'tough winter' - leader urges everyone to do their bit and aim for 'some normality' over Christmas

Tighter restrictions came into force in Hartlepool on Saturday, October 3, in a bid to stem the rising number of coronavirus cases.

It included a ban on people from different households mixing in any indoor setting unless as part of a support bubble.

Craig Blundred, Hartlepool Borough Council’s Acting Director of Public Health, addressed the town outbreak control engagement group earlier this week on the next steps for the area.

He noted there is no immediate exit strategy from the restrictions and the potential of a ‘challenging winter’ ahead.

Therefore he stressed the importance of everybody being involved in a community effort in helping to reduce the spread of the virus.

Mr Blundred said: “We’re all in this together, and that’s going to be the message we take forward.

“We don’t want these restrictions to continue longer than they have to, we don’t have a clear exit strategy at this point…but clearly getting the numbers down significantly will help us come out of these restrictions sooner rather than later.

“We are going to see a challenging time coming over the winter, we know that, we know that’s going to happen, we’re possibly seeing the start of it now.

“If we work with our communities we’re going to have a much better chance keeping the numbers as low as we possibly can, but also not having any of the additional burdens that we face with the additional winter illnesses which we see.”

Cllr Shane Moore, council leader, reiterated how the restrictions put in place by the Government were stricter than those requested by the council.

Council chiefs made the suggestions when they were ‘pretty much told’ they were going to have restrictions put on them, but their requests were ignored.

Cllr Moore stated it is now crucial residents play their part to help keep the Covid-19 rate down and follow guidelines and restrictions in place.

He said: “We really do need some help trying to get this message across because we want to be out of this as quickly as possible, and I’m sure we’d all like some sort of normality as we head towards Christmas.”

Mr Blundred stressed all organisations and community groups in the town will need to work proactively to help stop the spread of the virus, and the area will look to establish ‘community champions’ to help distribute information.

He added ward councillors will also have a ‘key role’ and be an important source of information and support in the community.

Mr Blundred noted telling people the correct Covid-19 guidelines and messaging is increasingly important given the prominence of social media.

He said: “It’s a challenge in this world of social media and lots of misinformation flying around, but we really need to get a handle on all of the information that’s coming out just so it’s clear for people what they have to do.

“If people don’t understand what they have to do it makes it much more difficult to put in place those restrictions and abide by those restrictions, and the last thing we want is confusion about them.”

Council chiefs have also released a ‘Covid-19 mythbuster’ video which can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FylV1dOTho by residents.

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