Local health bosses said Lincolnshire’s coronavirus numbers are “still very volatile” and do not expect the county to go down a tier in the government’s announcement on Wednesday.
Tony McGinty, the assistant director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council, said the numbers at a district level were changing rapidly.
He warned against having tiers at a district level for fear it might cause confusion.
“The big concern for me is the numbers are still very volatile, with districts going up and down quite sharply,” he said.
“If we ended up with variation between the districts we might find them changing around quite a lot over time […] and I don’t think that’s helpful to the public’s understanding of what the rules are and what they need to be doing.”
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate from Dec 7 to Dec 14. | Data: GOV UK / Table: The Lincolnite
Lincolnshire was placed into the toughest tier 3 restrictions, as England came out of the second lockdown on December 2.
Government bosses vowed to review the changes every two weeks — though it’s understood this may change to weekly in an upcoming announcement.
An announcement on Wednesday will reveal Lincolnshire’s future.
At the time, the government based its decision on five key factors. Below is the current situation in each one according to health bosses:
Case detection rates in all age groups – Lincolnshire’s current seven day infection rate up to December 12 is 243.2 per 100,000. The England rate is 181 per 100,000.
Case detection rates in the over 60s – Currently the rate for the over 60s in the county is 191.5 up to December 12, compared to 181 nationally.
The rate at which cases are rising or falling – Mr McGinty said this was “patchy” across districts. Government reports were focussed on the previously high Boston and East Lindsey having decreasing trends along with South Kesteven and West Lindsey. However, North Kesteven and South Holland were showing an increase overall, but a decrease in those over 60.
Positivity rate (positive cases as a percentage of tests taken) – Positivity rate for Lincolnshire is 9.7% with 21,441 tests carried out in the seven days to December 12 and 1,852 positive cases confirmed. Mr McGinty said this number had held steady for a period of time now.
Pressure on the NHS – “The hospital trust has got some significant pressures at the moment,” said Mr McGinty, noting “serious” problems with maintaining staffing. He said it was “not in such a good position at the moment.”
Mr McGinty said if government made a decision at a county level it would be “unlikely” to go down a tier since numbers were significantly higher than the UK average.
“Whilst we saw some initial decline in those numbers that that decline has certainly slowed down, and in some of our districts we haven’t really had much of a decline at all,” he said.
“Hospitals remain under quite a lot of pressure from a combination of the staffing acts of COVID and the numbers of patients who are in hospital with COVID so, overall, it doesn’t feel to me like we’re looking at a situation where Lincolnshire is likely to change tier at this point.”
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The 32-year-old man and 30-year-old woman arrested in the murder probe of an 11-year-old boy in Lincoln have both been released on police bail, without any charges.
The man was arrested on suspicion of murder and the woman on suspicion of manslaughter after an incident at a house on Geneva Street on St Giles in Lincoln.
Police were called to the house at 10pm on Friday night, January 22.
The 11-year-old boy was found unwell at the scene and was taken to hospital for treatment.
He was pronounced dead a short time later.
At the time Lincolnshire Police said the death was unexplained and it was treated as murder.
The man and the woman arrested at the weekend were released on police bail on Monday evening.
Lincolnshire Police said in a statement on Monday night:
“Once again, we’d like to remind people that this is an active investigation and that an 11-year-old boy has sadly lost his life.
“Speculative comments are not only deeply upsetting to those involved but can potentially undermine our investigation.
“If you have any information that can help, call 101 or email [email protected] quoting incident 472 of January 22.”
Ten people from Boston have been given fines for breaching COVID-19 regulations by driving dangerously in supermarket car parks.
Officers were called after three separate reports of dangerous driving in the car parks of Lidl and Tesco in Wyberton Fen, as well as on Marsh Lane Industrial Estate in Boston.
All three incidents took place and were reported to police between 5pm and 6pm on Sunday, January 24, though it is unsure if they were connected at all.
When officers arrived, the drivers were seen doing donut manoeuvres and racing in the snow.
A total of 10 people were given £200 fines for breaking lockdown guidelines, but this will be reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days, due to all being first time offenders.
As well as the COVID-19 fines, two of the vehicles were also seized as a result of being uninsured, with drivers reported.
A traffic offence report was also submitted after one driver was seen to be driving not just dangerously but out of control.
Inspector Fran Harrod of Lincolnshire Police said: “We would like to thank the public for bringing these incidents of dangerous driving to our attention.
“This is not only extremely dangerous to those taking part but to others in these areas.
“While we continue to engage and explain with the public, this was a blatant breach of the restrictions which will not be tolerated.”
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