Covid-19: Director of Public Health makes appeal to the people of Harlow
News / Wed 2nd Dec 2020 at 10:49am
THE DIRECTOR of Public Health for Essex has made an appeal to the people of Harlow.
Mike Gogarty spoke to YourHarlow as the rise in the number of infections in Harlow is one of the biggest in the country.
On November 2nd, Harlow was placed 245 out of 315 local authorities in relation to Covid-19 stats but over the last week, it has risen dramatically.
It is now in 60th place.
The R-value is now 1.36.
Mr Gogarty praised the people of Harlow and stressed the need to keep to the rules.
We did discuss the number of outbreaks in schools. There are concerns re infections in aged 10-18 group in Basildon but “that is not the case in Harlow” said Mr Gogarty.
Mr Gogarty detailed how we can all help, whether at home or out and about.
He also takes us through the procedure regarding self-isolating, test and trace and contact services.
We also discussed whether there were any clues as to why such a spike just now. Mr Gogarty made reference to Princess Alexandra Hospital.
He said: “One suggestion has been that there has been an outbreak within the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) which has involved quite a lot of staff.”
We will be following this up.
The full interview is below.
Richard Adams
2020-12-02 15:19:06
Thank you for publishing your interview with Mike Grogarty director of public health for Essex. He seems to think that two possibilities account for the sudden spike in Harlow either an outbreak at Princess Alexandra and or spreading among the middle aged. Surely with an efficient test and trace system they should be able to pinpoint very quickly where the infections are coming from. From my observations it seems to me that people have just got tired of sticking to the regulations. In the last few weeks I have witnessed a group of around 20 adults playing football, a group of around 10 runners running along the cycle track, mixing of households indoors, failing to keep social distancing in shops, not wearing masks in shops and all this by people who you would not describe as youngsters. It seems to me we are so close to cracking this problem that a few more weeks of being constrained and we will have it beaten. So can I add my voice to Mr Grogarty's and our local politicians calling for people to keep acting responsibly for a little bit longer please. Richard Resident of Harlow
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