Staffordshire set for talks over tier two lockdown restrictions
Staffordshire faces being put under tier two lockdown restrictions as early as this week, the Express & Star understands.
Health chiefs are considering tightening measures across the county following a spike in cases, which has seen infection rates in some areas more than double over the course of a week.
Talks are set to take place this week over moving the county up to the "high" alert level of measures, which would bring the county into line with Stoke-on-Trent and the three Black Country boroughs of Walsall, Sandwell and Wolverhampton.
It is understood that the surging infection rate has weakened the arguments put forward by local leaders for Staffordshire to remain in tier one, with a source telling the E&S it was a matter of "when rather than if" restrictions are tightened.
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Under tier two, households are banned from mixing indoors, including in private homes, as well as in pubs and restaurants.
Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant said he expected the district to be placed in tier two unless there was a fall in the infection rate.
"And if that doesn’t work, then we will enter tier three which means very high infection rates leading to the tight restrictions we've seen in Liverpool and elsewhere," he added.
Gavin Williamson, the MP for South Staffordshire, said: "I know that people are focused on doing everything they can to keep the virus levels down.
"Infection rates have been rising, not just in Staffordshire but across the country, and we all need to be as committed as possible to combat the virus."
In the seven days to October 19 the infection rate in Cannock Chase was 226.3 per 100,000 people – just over double the rate in the previous week.
It was 233.9 in South Staffordshire, up 60 per cent; 163.2 in Lichfield, a rise of 84 per cent; and 161.7 in Stafford, an increase of 1.4 per cent.
Last week council bosses in Stoke-on-Trent requested the city be moved into tier two after the infection rate hit 221.6 per 100,000.
A rate over 140 is considered a warning signal to SAGE, the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
