We remain in National Lockdown. During the lockdown we are again instructed to:
“Stay Home > Protect the NHS > Save Lives.”
We must not leave, or be outside of our homes except where necessary in a limited set of circumstances. If we do go out under the permitted circumstances, we must still remember “Hands > Face > Space.” It’s vital we still practice physical distancing, wear masks, and wash our hands or sanitise frequently.
The National Lockdown guidelines are summarised in our earlier update here, including a National Lockdown poster here summarising the rules for each sector. Birmingham City Council reminds us in their Weekly Update for 15th January here that “staying at home is the single most important action we can all take to protect the NHS and save lives.”
Birmingham City Council’s dashboard of Covid-19 information for the week 9th – 15th January 2021 can be seen here. There are the first signs this week of the impact of the national lockdown bringing down case numbers, and it is good to see the rates of testing are improving. However there is still a long way to go to bring the case rate down to the levels we achieved back in the autumn where case rates were down below 200 cases/100,000 people. Average daily Covid admissions have risen to over 150 new cases a day across the hospitals in the city. Case rates have risen in all age groups but are highest in the 30-40yr age group.
Moseley has seen a small drop of -3% in positive cases per 100,000 since the previous fortnight.
Local and national leaders and experts are consistent in urging each of us to take extra care in this lockdown. We are asked to view the rules as the upper limits, and to individually reduce the activities outside of our homes to the absolute minimum that is safely possible. We are asked to “act like you have the virus”, and remember anyone we meet may be infected even without knowing it. But, as we highlighted here, keeping in touch with each other is as important to our wellbeing as physical distancing is to our general health at present! We encourage everyone to maintain social contacts safely, including by phone or online wherever possible. We all hope that easier times will be on the way, but we must remain vigilant in the meantime.