Local MP for Hastings and Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, is urging local residents to follow the guidance and comply with the social distancing measures, as Covid19 cases have been rising sharply and in a sustained way in recent days.
Speaking after the release of the latest Covid19 data, Sally-Ann said “I am very concerned by the sharp and sustained rise in Covid19 cases across Hastings and Rother. Having spoken to the local Director of Public Health, there is now a real anxiety that we could see a prolonged period of high infection rates as seen in North Kent. If this is the case, then our area is now teetering towards Tier Three restrictions in the coming weeks.
“I am urging all local residents to please follow the guidance and comply with the Covid19 restrictions. I know this is incredibly hard for all of us, but if we ignore the rules cases will go up, our hospital will be overwhelmed and ultimately, we will see the desperate scenes of families losing loved ones in the run up to Christmas. If we follow the restrictions, we can avoid Tier Three measures and protect our NHS, ultimately saving lives.”
In recent days the numbers of Covid19 infections in Hastings has risen sharply, within 4 days going from 69 per 100,000 to 114, with no sign of levelling off.
“Given the rise in cases we must now all take responsibility for the number of social contacts that we have, adopting a “only if you must” attitude to whether you need to meet up with people. As a community we have worked so hard over the last ten months to ensure we have some of the lowest rates in the country, and we need to pull together once more to get the infection rates back down to their low levels. We beat the first wave. We’ve got through the second. Now let’s all pull together to avoid a third,” said Sally-Ann.