People should start taking advantage of the good summertime weather and “make the most of the freedoms” they’ve got in order to “top up on the benefits,” Lincolnshire health bosses said.
Assistant director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council Tony McGinty said people locking down for a long time meant they had potentially not been as physically active, had not been getting the benefits of the sun on their skin and had suffered mental health issues due to a lack of social contacts.
He said: “It’s summertime, the weather is good, and we don’t know how things are going to go as we go into autumn and winter.
“So people should make the most of the freedom they’ve got now because it would be horrible if they have been pretty locked down for months, and they stay locked down, and then the numbers start to get worse again.”
Case numbers are currently running low in Lincolnshire with just 71 confirmed cases so far in July.
Many experts believe a second wave could occur as the days and nights become cooler and people spend more time indoors in the later months of the year.
“We want people to try and top up on the benefits of being a bit more active, being a bit more connected with everybody whilst it’s relatively safe for them to do,” said Mr McGinty.
He understood the most vulnerable would have some concerns, however said there were “really clear safety guidelines to follow” to protect them from “the relatively low risk of COVID in the Lincolnshire population at the moment”.
He reassured people that if numbers did start to rise the local authority and health services now had the capability and powers to act quickly.
“We’re watching an awful lot of different numbers that will give us an early warning if things start to go wrong again and we’re capable of doing that now in quite small areas of the county so people should should relax as much as they feel that they can and… if there is an indication that something is going wrong somewhere we will let them know.”
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Drivers in Lincoln will face nearly a fortnight of disruption when electrical works cause a road closure on Skellingthorpe Road from next week (July 11).
Western Power Distribution will install a new electricity connection for a new primary school on Skellingthorpe Road.
The county council has been constructing a new 130-place school on the site of the former Priory Witham Academy Junior School, which will be for St Christopher’s primary-aged pupils.
As a result, Skellingthorpe Road will be closed between Tritton Road and Boultham Park Road between July 11 and July 22.
This is to ensure the safety of engineers and local people while work is taking place.
A diversion will be put in place via Tritton Road, Doddington Road and Newark Road.
Western Power Distribution said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused while we complete this essential new connection.”
We are investigating a road traffic collision which happened just after 5pm today.
The crash happened on the A15 just south of Waddington and involved a black Peugeot 208 that collided with a tree. The driver of the car, a 56-year-old male, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The A15 was closed just before 6pm and is likely to remain closed for some time.
We are particularly keen to hear from those who were driving along the A15 this afternoon between 4pm and 5:10pm and may have captured dashcam footage of the road during the collision.
If you have dashcam footage or any other information that will assist in our enquiries, there are a number of ways you can get in touch.
By calling 101 quoting incident 285 of 4 July.
By emailing [email protected] quoting incident 285 of 4 July in the subject line.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can report via the independent charity CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111 or online.