COVID-19 rates increased rapidly at the end of December in Barnet and across the country. Our hospitals are now at their full capacity in Intensive Care Units, with any virus being harder to control in the winter months.
Keep Barnet Safe
It has therefore been necessary to go into lockdown again, in order to contain the spread of the virus and minimise the impact of the illness on the most vulnerable in our community.
The message is simple: we must all stay home and only have contact with people outside our household in exceptional circumstances. Please familiarise yourself with our summary of the guidelines. We are scaling up our enforcement teams and making them more visible on our streets, in order to make sure that people and businesses are following the rules. Barnet’s greatest strength is its people and as we have shown over the past year, we will keep supporting each other and protecting our loved ones. If you develop symptoms, please get tested immediately and self-isolate for 10 days. For those struggling financially and find self-isolation challenging, help is available.
Schools will remain open for vulnerable children and key workers’ children only, in order to minimise the risk of infection. It won’t be easy for many of us to work with children at home but this is the only way to control the virus and save lives, at this stage. There is hope in the form of the vaccines, which are being rolled out across Barnet to priority groups. This roll out will take several months, and in the meantime, we must continue to do all we can to avoid getting infected and infecting others.
Stay home and stay safe: this is the single, most important thing you can do for yourself and others this winter.