Important COVID-19 update on rising cases in Kirklees
Dear resident,
I am writing to you with an urgent and important update, as Kirklees Council’s Director of Public Health.
Firstly, I want to thank you all for everything you are doing to keep yourself and others safe. I know how difficult this lockdown period is for us all, but the efforts you’re going to and the sacrifices you’re making are a key part in our fight against COVID-19.
However, I need to be honest and clear about our current COVID-19 figures – they are concerning.
We now have the ninth highest rates in the country, with over 2,500 people testing positive in the last seven days. In this time, 103 people have been admitted to hospital. Sadly, there have been 33 COVID-19-related Kirklees deaths in hospitals. We have to urgently change this, and we all have a part to play.
To help us support this, on top of the work we’re already doing in communities, we have requested that Kirklees gets access to lateral flow tests which give almost instant results. We plan to use these rapid tests to support our most vulnerable residents - which we believe is one way to help save lives and reduce hospital admissions.
What we need everyone else to do during this lockdown period is to limit your contact with other households to an absolute minimum, stay at home as much as possible and please, if you have any symptoms at all, self-isolate. We can turn this around, but we have to do it together.
If you’re vulnerable and need help, please get in touch with our COVID-19 Community Response: COVID-19 Community Response
The togetherness in Kirklees during this pandemic is something we should all be proud of. So, please continue to look out for each other, as you always do, and thank you for playing your part.
 Rachel Spencer-Henshall
Director of Public Health, Kirklees Council
Kirklees Council has special permission from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to email you without consent where this is in the public interest. In this case it is to help protect the public from COVID-19.
|
