There is no getting away from the fact that its been a hard winter and I don’t just mean the weather. Since early November we’ve been in national lockdown or Tier Four for all but about three weeks. Locally just like nationally, many of us will have felt down at times, many of us have lost our job or been on furlough, some people have had to self-isolate, and worst of all, we’ve had people being sick or dying from Covid-19 as well as health treatments for other ailments delayed.
But in the same way we can see that winter is turning into spring, we now have much to be optimistic about. Our world-leading vaccination programme continues to surpass its targets. Fifteen million of the country’s most vulnerable were vaccinated by the mid-February target. We now have over a third of the adult population having received their first dose and I’d expect we will hit 20 million in the days ahead. So much progress has been made that the government has now brought forward their estimation of the entire UK adult population being offered their first dose from September to the end of July.
I am writing in advance of the Prime Minister’s announcement being made on Monday 22nd February as to the roadmap out of lockdown. I think we’ve all learned a lot during this pandemic and that includes the government, who are armed with so much more knowledge about the virus and the effectiveness of the vaccinations, than what was known last year.
We have now turned a corner and while it will still take time and the risks from new variants exist, I feel much more confident than I have for a long time that things will get better. As the public health crisis improves, our focus needs to be on the economy and helping people back into work.
In the weeks ahead, we must stamp out the virus to very low levels so social distancing needs to be maintained, but we will get there and soon be able to finally start enjoying normal activities once again.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
24th February 2021
