Open letter from Council Leader
Councillor Rob Polhill
Yesterday, we learned that when we come out of the national lockdown on 2nd December, Halton will be placed into the Tier 2 High Alert Level.
This is a step in the right direction in our continued battle against this virus.
I know that the last weeks and months have been really, really tough for everyone as our lives have been turned upside down.
Many of us will have family, friends or neighbours who have lost jobs, been furloughed, or have been anxious about what the future holds.
Sadly, we know that there are too many amongst us who are coping with the grief of losing a loved one and our heartfelt sympathies go out to each of these families. Others, continue to suffer from the long-term after effects of having had COVID-19.
As we move out of lockdown, and look forward to some relaxation of restrictions, I wanted to say thank you to everyone for playing a part in getting infection rates down – we are now in a significantly better position than when the Tier 3 restrictions were imposed on us.
But I must also urge caution and warn that we are not out of the woods yet. While cases are reducing, they are still high and there is still a long way for us to go.
We have had the exciting news about vaccine developments and we hope that this is available to us sooner rather than later. But until then, the only way for us to defeat this virus, is if we all keep following the rules that are in place, keep washing our hands, wear our face coverings and keep our distance.
If we don’t do these things, there is a very real risk that we will undo all of the hard-fought gains we have made and we will again be faced with the even greater hardship that comes with Tier 3 restrictions.
So please in the days and weeks ahead – stop, think and do the right thing by continuing to follow the rules so that we can start to do and enjoy the things we once did and get back to some sort of normality sooner.