Latest on coronavirus in Allerdale, key election deadlines coming up and A595 improvement plans

Covid-19 cases in Cumbria continued to drop with only 69 cases for the week ending 9 April. 

While there was some variation between districts, the infection rate in Cumbria (14 new cases per 100k), with the exception of Copeland, remains below national and regional averages. Copeland’s rate was above the national average but equal to the regional average rate (27 and 31 new cases per 100k population respectively). In Allerdale there were 12 cases. 

The number of patients in hospital and new admissions to hospital continues to decrease and there are no current outbreaks in care homes across Cumbria. 

This week (from 12 April) saw further easing of lockdown restrictions with non-essential retail reopen along with outdoor opening of hospitality venues. Social contact rules remain unchanged, people can still only meet in groups of up to 6 people, or two households, outdoors. 

Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said: “The number of new cases remains low and that is excellent news but we cannot take this for granted, especially now that restrictions have been eased a little more. I am continuing to ask people to remember to follow the social contact rules to help drive infections down even further.” 

The weekly COVID-19 situation report for Cumbria can be found at www.cumbria.gov.uk/stopthespread. 

The multi-agency group that has overseen the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic formally stood down this week.

The Cumbria Strategic Coordination Group (SCG), chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Andy Slattery, which has met over 100 times since last March and involved up to 40 organisations including ourselves, will hand over to the Strategic Recovery Coordination Group (SCRG) chaired by the Chief Executive of Cumbria County Council, Katherine Fairclough.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is by no means over, the time is right to move from an emphasis on the emergency response to the virus, to dealing with the longer-term impact of the pandemic. 

The SRCG has also launched an online public consultation to gather feedback on the Draft Recovery Strategy for Cumbria.  

Planning for the future is essential to a successful recovery for local residents, businesses, communities and tourists. To ensure there is a robust recovery framework in place, Cumbria SRCG has developed a draft recovery strategy document, and is now seeking the views of local people to help inform the final version, which will be published in the Summer.   

The strategy has been developed by an extensive range of partners across Cumbria, and further information about the SRCG, as well as links to the draft recovery strategy document, and the online survey, can be found at www.cumbriarecovery.org. 

The closing date for feedback is 25 April 2021.

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There are some key deadlines ahead of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local by-elections on May 6 coming up.  

The deadline to register to vote if you are not already on the electoral register is midnight on 19 April 2021. It is particularly important that those who have recently turned 18 or moved home, act now to check and ensure that they are registered to vote. Anyone with any queries should contact the elections team.  

There are a number of ways to vote in the elections in May – by post, in a polling station, or by appointing someone you trust to vote on your behalf, which is known as a proxy vote.  The deadline for residents to apply for a postal vote is 5pm on 20 April 2020, and for a proxy vote the deadline is 5pm on 27 April.

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