Covid-19: let’s be measured when easing lockdown, says Dr Black

On Monday, our local executive will share their plan for the next steps in moving towards a ‘post Covid’ society.

This local plan follows on from the plans laid out this week by England, Scotland and Ireland.

The common theme in all of them was that it was necessary to have a slow and measured approach to easing lockdown, with each stage of reopening needed to be completed and evaluated before moving onto the next stage.

There is no doubt in my mind that this slow and steady approach is the best way to move forward and the best way to ensure that this is the last lockdown that we all have to face.

The past few months - with the bad weather and the dark nights - have, no doubt, been some of the hardest we have all faced in the past year. And with the lighter nights, everyone is straining to get back to normal – children back at school, able to socialise or see family, and able to travel again, as well as all the other things that everyone is missing.

But the quickest way for us to get right back to where we were over Christmas and the New Year is for us to move too fast.

We need to see the impact of each step on the COVID19 case numbers and, if they begin to rise too quickly again, we will need to react.

There is no doubt that people here made a great effort over the past few months and this is seen in the dropping numbers of cases in the area; so, we do not want to run the risk of losing all of that hard work and sacrifice to find ourselves back at square one in a few weeks or months.

Alongside this incremental approach to unlocking, we also need to make sure that as many people as are eligible get the vaccine.

The numbers who have got the first dose so far have been impressive and the categories who are eligible for the vaccine, either through their GP or via the hospital, have been widened.

Getting the vaccine will ensure protection for you and your family and work colleagues.

The more we can slow the spread of COVID19 to a manageable level and make sure that our hospitals can cope the faster we can get back to a more normal life.