Call for calm on COVID-19 figures for our area

This morning I spoke to the Health Secretary and asked him to review Barrow’s coronavirus infection rate in light of the figures from the ONS.

At this stage I believe that the high rates exist simply because we’ve been doing such a high rate of testing - 2/3 times more than most areas. That would also explain why South Lakes and Lancaster (served by the same hospital trust) also have such high figures. 

However, for reassurance, I’ve asked the Health Secretary to sense check this and made sure that there’s nothing else that we should be concerned about. I’m very grateful that he’s agreed to do so. I’ll feed back his findings here when I receive them. 

In the meantime: stay aware, mind the gap, and wash your hands.