COVID : Why Scarborough?

North Yorkshire County Council's Chief Exec says personal interactions, house parties and indoor birthday parties are spreading the virus in the Scarborough Borough.

Scarborough remains in England’s top 10 highest infection rate areas for COVID-19 this week and at one stage, was second only to Hull.

In his latest update the Chief Executive of North Yorkshire County Council, Richard Flinton, stresses that the spread of the virus in the borough is down to the actions of local people and not visitors to the area. Mr Flinton says..

"Many people are asking why Scarborough? I have seen a number of comments from people linking it to the influx of visitors to the coast over half term. In honesty, the facts are rather closer to home and they serve to remind us all of the very volatile virus we are dealing with. While most people are continuing to stick to the rules and making sacrifices around not seeing their loved ones, sadly a few others are not. So of the 45 fixed penalty notices issues by our partners in the police over the weekend just gone, 40 were for illegal gatherings and breaches of other covid rules in Scarborough town, Filey and Whitby. This included birthday parties indoors during a national lockdown."

The county's Director of Public Health, Dr Lincoln Sargeant says..

“This virus does not spread in a linear way, it increases exponentially. This is difficult for some people to grasp - hence there can be a degree of complacency. By the time they are aware of the impact, the spread is getting rapidly worse. It is catastrophic, as is the nature of pandemics.

“This virus has told us its secrets earlier in the year. It spreads through people we trust to be in our personal space.

“If we are going to make a difference we have to think about our personal responsibility.”

Responding to Dr Sergeant's comments, Richard Flinton says the responsibility for stopping the spread is down to local residents.

"And there it is. The stark truth, it is only we who can make the difference in the decisions we make every day. While most of us are playing our part for the county, those who decide to flout the rules can trigger rapid changes in the rate of spread.

Some people seemed well aware they should not be having house parties, perhaps they felt safe because they did not believe they had been in contact with anyone who had the virus. But many people will carry this with very mild or even no obvious symptoms. Sadly, they may then pass it onto the very people who may develop much more serious symptoms, some may well die.

None of this is very palatable, I understand that, but frankly, I think we are at the point with the small minority of people where just asking isn’t enough. As a result, North Yorkshire Police are very clear that they will act on the public’s concerns and respond to reports of breaches of the covid laws and that enforcement will continue where that is necessary.

So as we head toward the lifting of the second English national lockdown I urge everyone in the strongest terms to think very carefully about the sort of Christmas we want to have. We do not yet know what national tier we will be in from December 2.

At the moment as a county, we remain above the national average, which is not a happy place to be. The very high rates along the coast are pulling that average up, but we are not powerless in this. In fact, we are very much in charge of our own decisions so let’s make the right choices!"