Kent placed into Tier 3 covid restrictions

November 26, 2020 Kathy Bailes Covid, News 69

Covid

Kent and Medway been placed in Tier 3 Covid restrictions as the country comes out of ‘lockdown’ on December 2.

The strictest tier has been applied to the county as weekly covid rates for Swale and Thanet are currently highest in the country, with Medway also recording an increasing rate.

Tier allocations will be reviewed every 14 days but the system will be in place until the end of March.

Tier decisions have been based on:
a. Case detection rates in all age groups;
b. Case detection rates in the over 60s;
c. The rate at which cases are rising or falling;
d. Positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests
taken); and
e. Pressure on the NHS, including current and projected occupancy

A list of tier allocations has been published on the government website. Listing Kent and Medway as Ter 3 it says: “Case rates are high and continuing to rise with large increases in case rates in almost all areas in the last 7 days.

“Some of the highest case rates in the country are currently seen in Kent. Rising case rates in people aged over 60 are a particular concern. Positivity is also increasing in 10 of the 13 lower tier local authorities.

“Kent And Medway STP are reporting hospital admissions are increasing and mutual aid necessary across the county.”

Thanet data

Government dashboard data shows 110 positive tests reported yesterday for Thanet (November 25), making 753 in the seven days to that date. Unfortunately the dip in numbers has not been sustained and the rate is now up 3.9%.

Kent Public Health data shows Thanet is now at 477 cases per 100,000 people (as of November 22), down from 510.8 per 100,000 (as of November 16) Swale is at 530.4 which is also down from 647 on November 16, but both rates are far above the England average of 201.3.

The total number of people in Thanet who have had a confirmed positive test result is 3,538.

There were 18 deaths within 28 days of a positive test for Coronavirus reported for the week to November 25 for Thanet. The total number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for Coronavirus as of November 24 was 145. Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate but may not be the primary cause of death.

The tier level restrictions mean the continued closure of pubs (takeaway/delivery allowed), hotels and leisure sites such as cinemas, theatres and soft play centres and a continued ban on indoor socialising.

Find the postcode tracker for Tier levels here

Kent County Council (KCC) has invited the army to help with the rollout of mass coronavirus testing despite saying last week that military assistance would not be available due to pressures on the service.

The “lateral flow”  tests will give out results within 30 minutes and is similar to a pregnancy test.

Around 2,000 soldiers were drafted into Liverpool to deliver tests in a city-wide pilot this month.

KCC’s public health director, Andrew Scott-Clark, warned last Friday that widespread testing would be a “huge logistical exercise” and Kent will need the right infrastructure in place for it to work effectively.

 

Tier 3: Very High alert

Socialising

  • you must not meet socially indoors or in most outdoor places (ie a private garden) with anybody you do not live with, or who is not in your support bubble,
  • you must not socialise in a group of more than 6 in some other outdoor public spaces, including parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, a public garden, grounds of a heritage site or castle, or a sports facility – this is called the ‘rule of 6’

Hospitality and attractions

  • hospitality settings, such as bars (including shisha venues), pubs, cafes and restaurants are closed – they are permitted to continue sales by takeaway, click-and-collect, drive-through or delivery services.
  • accommodation such as hotels, B&Bs, campsites, and guest houses must close. There are several exemptions, such as for those who use these venues as their main residence, and those requiring the venues where it is reasonably necessary for work or education and training
  • indoor entertainment and tourist venues must close. This includes: indoor play centres and areas, including trampolining parks and soft play, casinos, bingo halls, bowling alleys, skating rinks, amusement arcades and adult gaming centres, laser quests and escape rooms, cinemas, theatres and concert halls, snooker halls
  • indoor attractions at mostly outdoor entertainment venues must also close (indoor shops, through-ways and public toilets at such attractions can remain open). This includes indoor attractions within: zoos, safari parks, and wildlife reserves, aquariums, visitor attractions at farms, and other animal attractions, model villages, museums, galleries and sculpture parks, botanical gardens, biomes or greenhouses, theme parks, circuses, fairgrounds and funfairs, visitor attractions at film studios, heritage sites such as castles and stately homes, landmarks including observation decks and viewing platforms

Leisure and sport

  • leisure and sports facilities may continue to stay open, but group exercise classes (including fitness and dance) should not go ahead. Saunas and steam rooms should close
  • there should be no public attendance at spectator sport or indoor performances and large business events should not be taking place. Elite sport events may continue to take place without spectators
  • large outdoor events (performances and shows) should not take place, with the exception of drive-in events
  • places of worship remain open, but you must not attend with or socialise with  anyone outside of your household or support bubble while you are there, unless a legal exemption applies
  • weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of attendees – 15 people can attend wedding ceremonies, wedding receptions are not allowed, 30 people can attend funeral ceremonies, 15 people can attend linked commemorative events
  • organised outdoor sport, and physical activity and exercise classes can continue, however higher-risk contact activity should not take place
  • organised indoor sport, physical activity and exercise classes cannot take place indoors. There are exceptions for indoor disability sport, sport for educational purposes and supervised sport and physical activity for under-18s

Travel

  • you can continue to travel to venues or amenities which are open, but should aim to reduce the number of journeys you make where possible
  • avoid travelling to other parts of the UK, including for overnight stays other than where necessary, such as for work, education, youth services, to receive medical treatment, or because of caring responsibilities. You can travel through other areas as part of a longer journey
  • for international travel see the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice for your destination and the travel corridors list

All tiers

The stay at home requirement will end. Shops – both essential and non-essential – personal care – including hairdressers -,gyms and the wider leisure sector will be open. Collective worship, weddings and outdoor sports can resume, subject to social distancing. People will no longer be limited to seeing only one other person in outdoor public spaces – the rule of 6 will now apply as it did in the previous set of tiers.

The 10pm curfew for restaurants and bars has been removed. Instead 10pm will be last orders with customers needing to leave the premises by 11pm (in the tiers where they are open).

Education (schools/universities etc) remain open.

‘Deep dive’ research to examine reasons for Covid case rises in Thanet and Swale

Applications for Covid business support grants from Thanet council are now open

Tier 3 explained – what is open and what remains closed; who you can meet, Christmas bubbles and where you can travel

69 Comments

  1. I thought they were strengthen the tiers, it seems to me Tier 3 that were in pretty much everything is open apart from Hotels, Pubs, restaurants (Not serving takeaways) can meet up to 6 people in a park, Zoo etc etc so outdoors apart from private garden.

    Feel sorry for the pubs and restaurants but this really is not a lockdown is it!!!!

  2. Lets hope that TDC will speak to the government to take up their offer of mass testing in the worst areas, of which Thanet is one.

  3. This article contradicts itself.

    The first paragraph under the title Tier 3 Very High Alert, contradicts the first paragraph under All Tiers.

    We are told no one can meet anyone outside or inside if not in a bubble then told groups up to 6 can meet.?

    • I don’t . From being one of the safest places in the UK in September and early October, we’ve now amongst the worst.
      You can’t blame the schools: they’ve gone back all over the country, including the likes of Hastings (tier 2)
      The only tier 1 locations are Isle of Wight, Scilly Islands and Cornwall.
      It’s pretty obvious that people have been mixing and mingling far too much, and now we reap the consequences.
      Are there any stats to show where (if any) the “spreading centres” are?
      Schools, shops, pubs, care homes, family homes?
      It’s down to us all to do our bit. Including the two blokes in front of me not wearing masks in the news agents.

      • It is because people THOUGHT the area was “one of the safest places in the UK” in September and early October. The virus has remained in the community, and should never have been assumed as safer than elsewhere.

    • People believing the rules don’t apply to them-I got to Tesco Westwood a bit later than usual the week before last & while lining up a guy in I would say his sixties decided to not stand on the circle for the next person, but to get right behind the OAP in front of him & put his stuff down. Then two halfwits decided to do exactly the same to me-one of them even coughing once, while some halfwit woman in front of me decided to take forever pulling out endless 50 p off coupons & yapping to the cashier. Got there that 15 or so minutes earlier the past week & no issues.

      This week went to Tesco in Cliftonville & I see two staff members standing by the entrance-silly me thought they were there to limit the number of people coming in, but no-they are there to ‘remind’ people about using hand sanitizer-as if their baskets & trolleys are cleaned & the produce on the shelves is somehow immune-so just putting two members of staff & the public at further risk for no reason. Then two young shop workers decided to stand where the bread is having a yap about the usual drivel-boyfriends, television etc & some lazy/dozy halfwit asking a staff member questions about everything like prices-when the shelves are clearly labelled.

      • It is generally much more comfortable in most smaller stores, despite the obvious higher prices and lack of choice. Better than getting the virus!

        • Unfortunately I have dietary issues, which smaller stores don’t really cover-so have to use the supermarkets. I whizz in with a list, get round fast & get out as fast as possible.

        • That’s not true in the smaller Tesco stores. All the numpties still refuse to wear masks and Tesco staff don’t say a word to encourage them to wear them. It’s the same in all the petrol stations with shops. Non compliance of face coverings is rampant in Thanet.

          Tesco Shop workers (on the tills) are also not wearing masks because they foolishly believe they are safe because they are shielded by a metre plexiglass screen. The screen doesn’t protect them from people coughing and breathing on them when they are loading their shopping on the moving conveyor belt and it’s the same when people are packing the shopping in bags as again there is no screen to protect them. Shop workers are helping spread the virus because they can’t be bothered to wear masks.

          Cases are high in Thanet and Swale because of selfish fools who can’t seem to understand that’s it’s their non compliance with the rules and restrictions that are helping prolong the pandemic.

          • I meant smaller other stores, not smaller Tescos! I.e., get your fruit & veg from a greengrocers, bread from a bakers, mean from a butchers, cleaning stuff from a hardware store, etc. Won’t solve everything, but it is still possible in some ares (certainly Westgate and Birchington) to keep supermarket shopping to a bare minimum (often I buy things like tinned food and milk in Westgate’s ‘Best One’ – a small shop with pretty good social distancing and a one-way system).

  5. Pretty much its do what you like all is open apart from Pubs and Restaurants (Not serving takeaway) Meet up to 6 people Outside in Parks, Zoo etc etc (Just not private gardens) so not really a lockdown

    Feel sorry for restaurants and pubs but pretty much life goes on

  6. Close the schools and open the pubs (with meals)! Seriously, it would cut rates AND help protect the economy.

    • Don’t agree with closing schools, but agree with opening restaurants for a meal or pubs for meals, they are easy places to control, can go to gym and get hair cut or nails done etc were is close contact and numerous people before me but can’t eat with my family or bubble is stupid. Simple will get a nice takeaway and go eat it with 6 people in the park!!

  7. I don’t tend to go in pubs or eat out so I’m not sure how this is going to actually affect me.

    Rates in the South East are dropping anyway so Tier 3 will be lauded as a success in 2 weeks even though, on its own, it will have made very little difference.

    Seale and Thanet weren’t affected badly early so are now. Places like Ashford were affected early on so aren’t now. It’s not exactly rocket science. It will affect every area at some point. The rest is a question of timing.

    • Wait until January- just like it has taken three weeks to see the numbers coming down, from December 3rd to 24th the already failed tier system will see a huge increase again & then you mix in the insane five days of three households meeting indoors from the 23rd-27th & it just makes it even worse.

    • We (my partner and I) are certainly not people who lives in pubs; however, we like to treat ourselves to a meal in a nice pub/restaurant/cafe once a week, also supporting local businesses who’ve had a tough and unpredictable year. We were also particularly looking forward to a quite meal for two we’ve booked for Christmas Eve, but I can’t see that happening now!

  10. I agree with you Peter. If the schools were shut and infection rate drops the less areas would be in higher tiers hence the economy would boom. The Government would be able to pay for child care.

  11. The Covid Marshals disperse groups only for the groups to meet up again 5 minutes later. You cannot help those who don’t want to be helped.

  12. Mass testing with results within 30 minutes with the help of the army worked in Liverpool, now must be brought into thanet now

  13. Non-essential shops can still trade. Absolute joke.
    Can’t spend 15-mins visiting Santa at Margate Caves, but can mooch around Westwood shops for hours.

  14. the only people to benefit from these rules are KFC and Macdonalds they are doing a roaring trade and the new one by Asda has opened and I saw at least a dozen schools boys together at the restaurant, so much for distancing and eating good food.

  15. Where is the KCC ‘deep dive?

    Where are the QEQM numbers?

    Where are the case demographics?

    Mass testing is pointless if there is not clearer context to the numbers.

    With all shops now allowed to open thoe Covid wardens need to step it up. The shops I visited were normal town centre shops, no regard for their own rules, no longer getting my custom. Even when customers point out there are too many inside they just didn’t care. Not on. And especially unfair on all the restaurants forced to stay closed when so many restaurants were extremely Covid safe.

    • Agree totally. I’ve found almost every pub, restaurant and cafe I’ve been in to be far more compliant of the rules than many shops.

  16. 18% infection rates in supermarkets. No restrictions no track n trace.

    1.8% infections in pubs. Sit down no mixing. Track n trace.

    Ummmm follow the science eh..

  17. Not surprised at all at the increase in the rate of Covid-19 in Thanet amongst the age 60+. I am one of the statistics who thought I was being safe…… I am well after my isolation. During the first week of lockdown I counted a gathering of aged 60 + in excess of 12 – no social distancing seemed apparent. Two days later in the same place, 14 were observed at the same location. It can’t all be blamed on the youngsters. I was lucky, many older folk have underlying conditions and may not be so lucky.

  19. As NHS GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp has said: “Thanks to the latest tier system, countless millions of vulnerable people will be plunged further into poverty – all in the name of battling a virus that is survived by more than 99 per cent of people it infects. As a practising GP, I have seen almost daily in my surgery how, trapped by the authorities’ one-eyed focus on tackling Covid at any cost, my patients have struggled to access even the most basic services.” MP Steve Baker also said: “The authoritarianism… is truly appalling… On the economy and on coronavirus, I fear we are now so far down the rabbit hole that we have forgotten we even entered it.” Repeating this again. over 99 per cent of the UK population survive this virus. And look at the false positive rate in the testing so far and how that factors into the fear control agenda. Some beg for their continuing imprisonment while millions of others think it will be very interesting when accountability comes one day. But many of Thanet’s businesses will have gone to the wall by then, other medical conditions won’t be treated and more will die of other conditions, mental health will be further scarred, suicides will continue to rise and some elderly and vulnerable will become even more lonely. This is not a functioning society. It’s a disgrace.

  20. My son was sent home from school just four days after returning to school after half term, as someone in his bubble had tested positive for covid-19. After self isolating for fourteen days, in his room, poor little chap (as we his parents are possibly classed as vulnerable) we sent him back to school, only to receive yet another text for him to self isolate for another fourteen days as in his first lesson back a boy had demonstrated covid-19 symptoms and four days later had tested positive. He is now in his room again. This is bloody ridiculous. Why are schools not closed. If we send them in he could bring the virus back and kill one or both of his parent or if we refuse to send him in we will be fined and he will miss out on his education. It is doing our heads in. Close the F*cking schools!

    • Extremely well-put comment. It would make far more sense to do remote learning (and, let’s face it, any competent parent could teach primary/junior school age kids themselves).

  21. Do you think that there is a high percentage of such competence among the general population? If so, on what grounds?

    • Well… all I can go is my own experience. When growing up on a rough London council estate in the ’60s, myself and my 3 younger siblings ALL learned to read, write, do basic maths and tell the time before starting school aged 4. This was thanks to my mother’s determination, despite her leaving school with no qualifications. Now, if SHE could do it over half a century ago in such reduced circumstances, then surely anyone with the internet (etc) can do it now? Or am I over-estimating modern-day adults abilities?

  23. It’s complete nonsense.
    So I can mingle in a supermarket with loads of other people I don’t even know,
    But I’m not supposed to be outdoors in the garden with my next door neighbours?
    Complete bull!!!

  24. Could I ask everyone’s advice, please? I live in a cul de sac where we have a spacious courtyard area. I am a music teacher and back in May during the first lockdown, I did an open air socially distanced music session for local children which was very successful. I’d like to do a similar event with outdoor socially distanced Christmas Carols for our friends and neighbours in our court and wondered if this would be permissible as we’re in Tier 3? In the Daily Mail a short while back it said that carol singers can go from door to door and give high street concerts but the article didn’t mention the different tiers.
    Many thanks in advance!

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