Blackpool brought under Lancashire's Covid restrictions: this is everything you need to know

Blackpool has fallen in line with Covid restrictions that were introduced everywhere else in Lancashire earlier this week.
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As of today, (26th September), that means mixing between different households in private homes and gardens is banned, except for those who have formed a support bubble.

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Your complete guide to the new Covid restrictions in Blackpool

However, residents right across Lancashire – including Blackpool - are now also being “strong advice” not to socialise with anyone outside of their household in any setting, whether outdoors or indoors.

Blackpool's separate Covid status is overBlackpool's separate Covid status is over
Blackpool's separate Covid status is over
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Previously, the recommendation in the county council area, which includes Fylde and Wyre, had been for households not to mix in undercover public settings such as pubs and restaurants.

The new rules and guidance now apply uniformly across every part of Lancashire – apart from some limited additional restrictions in the east of the county.

Lancashire residents are urged to use public transport only where it is essential and not to attend amateur and semi-professional sporting events as spectators.

The county-wide Covid regime also incorporates all of the national rules – including the 10pm-5am closure period in the leisure and hospitality industry, table-only service in bars and restaurants and advice for people to work form home where they can.

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The changes come against a backdrop of rising hospital admissions across Lancashire due to the virus, with the number of Covid inpatients having leapt from 10 a fortnight ago to 86. There have been eight Covid-related deaths in the county over the last week.

Lancashire Resilience Forum (LRF) chair Angie Ridgwell said coronavirus was “biting back quite significantly” and appealed to residents to take the situation “incredibly seriously”.

Meanwhile, council and public and health bosses in Blackpool said that they had been powerless to ensure that the resort was included in the Lancashire-wide restrictions when they were first announced a week ago, because the decision had been taken by the government “without any engagement” with the local authority.

Chief executive Neil Jack said that the stance taken by the department of health and social care initially to exclude Blackpool – a standalone council area – was “understandable based on the rates they saw at that point”.

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The coronavirus case rate in Blackpool stood at around 35 per 100,000 people 10 days ago – the time at which the government made its decision on rules which were subsequently announced last Friday. By the time of that announcement, they had already started to climb and have since more than doubled, before slipping back slightly to 69.6 in the week to 22 September, with 97 new cases over that timeframe.

“We haven’t been subject to anything other than the national restrictions up until this point, so [the government] didn’t seek anything from us - I presume because they were not [considering] putting us into [local] restrictions” Mr. Jack told an LRF media briefing.

“The engagement with local authorities tends to be when they are looking to put additional restrictions into place over and above the national ones.

“Even the conversation this week felt more like, ‘Do you agree with what we’re going to do anyway?’ So I’m not sure whether our view [last week] would have been helpful to them or unhelpful.”

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Mr. Jack said the data suggested that Blackpool’s incidences of Covid were largely the result of community transmission in suburban areas and that there was “no link” to the tourist economy.

The town’s director of public health said that he had been “comfortable” with the decision to be left under national rules last week, because of low infection rates in the resort at the time - and stressed that a lag in the statistics meant that it was too soon for the uptick in cases seen this week to have been a result of the differing rules for Blackpool in recent days.

Arif Rajpura said that the county was now at a “critical juncture” in the pandemic - and that made it more important than ever to follow the basic rules on social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing face coverings when required.

“It’s important that those people that are symptomatic need to get a test and engage with the test, track and trace system,” he added.

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“We need to keep the schools open and try not to damage the economy as that has a long-term impact in terms of deprivation and increasing inequalities – we’re trying to balance those objectives.

“If we all follow the guidance, we can get through this next phase, keeping the levels of infection at a reasonable level.”

Mr. Rajpura joined with his county council counterpart Dr. Sakthi Karunanithi to warn that residents must act to avoid a full-on lockdown, which County Hall’s public health boss said could be applied regionally by government, rather than nationally.

“No public health practitioner would want such a draconian lockdown on the economy or people’s movements.

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“We really want to act on the precise factors that are causing the virus to spread and not [take] a sledgehammer and still not crack a nut.

“Our intelligence suggests that the key behaviour that is driving this is people from different households mixing.

“When we say inter-household transmission, it’s not all [about] people going into each other’s houses and passing the virus on – it’s people from various households coming in close contact for a prolonged period of time, whether that is indoors or outdoors,” Dr. Karunanithi said.

Lancashire Police deputy chief constable Terry Woods thanked the majority of the public for doing their best, but warned that Lancashire was now back in the “emergency response” phase to Covid - and told those flouting the rules to change their behaviour.

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“For clarity, you must wear face coverings [where mandatory] - it’s not guidance, it’s regulation. Please wear face coverings in shops, petrol stations, taxis, indoor hospitality venues.

“Anybody who is symptomatic must self-isolate – it’s not guidance, it’s [the law]. The consequence to the general public of you not [doing that] is really clear.

“The spread of the virus could end up in somebody’s death,” said DCC Woods, adding that the force had already issued £1,000 fines to people who had not complied with quarantine requirements.

Mr. Jack said that it was a matter of people taking “personal and family responsibility”.

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“Once schools went back, all of us who have children or children in our families are in a slightly riskier environment. So as parents, it’s important we seek other ways to limit the risk to our families – that may mean we go out a little less [or] we don’t go to that restaurant.

“If you spend a lot of time caring for an elderly parent, you need to limit your exposure to others.

“It’s not about the rules, it’s about taking personal responsibility for keeping you and your family as safe as you can - while making sure your children are still going to school and your Mum isn’t isolated, alone and vulnerable.

“All of those things are about taking a balanced approach to the risks for you and your family.”

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Meanwhile, the case rate in Fylde has more doubled in the week to 22nd September, reaching 81.7 per 100,000 people as a result of 66 positive tests.

Over the same period, Wyre became the only Lancashire council area to record a fall in Covid numbers - down from 55.3 to 50,0 on the rolling weekly case rate measure, with 56 new cases.

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