The roadmap out of lockdown and next steps for the East Midlands region

The Deputy Director of Public Health England for the Midlands has issued a statement outlining his thoughts for the roadmap out of lockdown and the next steps for the East Midlands.

Matthew Day FFPH, Deputy Director at PHE Midlands said: "There is no doubt it’s been a long, hard winter for everyone across the East Midlands.  Through our collective action, we prevented the rapid rise of cases seen in London and the South East over Christmas.  Our case rates continue to fall but remain high.  As of this week we remain the highest region in England for coronavirus case rates and so there is still more to be done to drive these numbers, and pressure on our NHS, downwards further.

If we do this and continue our collective efforts over the coming weeks, we can begin to feel cautiously optimistic about the coming months.

As the Prime Minister laid out the steps in his roadmap on Monday, we will all have heard it slightly differently.  For many, there would have been anticipation as they started counting the days until they could see and hold their loved ones again.  For others, like me, who may have been juggling childcare with working from home, or just worried about the mental health of their children, there will have been relief at the news of schools re-opening.

Of course, for others again there will be anxiety, doubts and worries – whether because they work in an industry that won’t be re-opening just yet or because they fear what easing lockdown will mean for COVID-19 rates across the region and country.

All these feelings are completely natural and unsurprising but however you feel, it is important to remember that what the Prime Minister has outlined is a careful, incremental approach to opening different parts of society.  Rates across the country are still relatively high (highest in the East Midlands) and things will only be eased as the rates come down, numbers of people vaccinated increase, the number of new variants is low, and we are sure that the vaccines offer protection against hospitalisation and death.

It is also worth remembering how we have reached this stage.  In partnership with Local Authority public health teams and Directors of Public Health, NHS Test and Trace are massively scaling up testing to help us all get back to some normality.  Hundreds of thousands are being vaccinated every day and we cannot thank our colleagues in both public health and the NHS enough for the dedication and commitment they have shown to keeping us all safe in our communities.  It’s excellent news that this week we were also able to publish our first real-world UK data showing Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides high levels of protection from the first dose.

Schools too have worked incredibly hard right through lockdown to make sure all students have been able to keep studying.  For those who are anxious about their children returning to the classroom, PHE’s Chief Nurse and Director of Maternity and Early Years, Viv Bennett, has said that “staff, parents and pupils can feel reassured by scientific evidence that shows transmission in schools is low and that children are not drivers of infection in schools or the wider community”

In the East Midlands, we have seen daily cases and deaths drop by almost two thirds since the 5th January.  Our region is, however, the highest in the country for positive cases.  It is imperative that we continue to follow social distancing guidelines and help stop the spread of this disease. The sooner we can do this, the sooner we can return to normal life, seeing friends and hugging loved ones. 

You should of course also be proud of your own efforts because we know that lockdown works.  Transmission rates have fallen significantly and this in turn has eased the pressure on the NHS.  This has only been possible thanks to the sacrifices you have made by staying at home.

But this virus is far from beaten and even as we can start to look forward to better times, we still need to keep doing the simple things that save lives.

Cover your face, wash your hands and make space will all be with us for some time.  For now, you should continue to stay at home as much as possible.  When you are offered a vaccination, take it.

Gradually we can re-open the country and the East Midlands, but we can only do that through small, cautious steps. We know how quickly infections and deaths can rise when we let our guards down and the future will be informed by ‘data, not dates’.  Let’s pull together, and we can look forward to a brighter summer.