The Westminster Government has designated Walsall as a High Alert level, meaning local restrictions will come into place.

This means that the borough of Walsall is now on the second step of a three-step ladder on the Government’s Alert system. The council will receive some additional support to assist its collective efforts, with partners, to bring down the number of cases of COVID-19 across the borough. Whether this meets the full cost remains to be seen. Certainly the promise made by Johnson and his Government way back at the beginning of the Pandemic when he urged Councils to spend what was needed to bring COVID-19 under control has fallen woefully short.

These restrictions require us all to limit social contact outside of our households or support bubbles in order to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.

The most important messages right now are that households must not mix in homes and people must take self-isolation seriously. Self-isolation means what it says, you must stay at home.

We must also continue to remember ,HANDS, FACE and SPACE, and think twice about where we go and whether we really need to go, in order to reduce our potential exposure to the virus.

Walsall’s Director of Public Health said:

“The pandemic hasn’t gone away; it is still very much with us. It is very easily transmitted and, put simply, it kills people and leaves others struggling to recover months on.

“I appreciate people may be tired of hearing the same messages over and over, however they are more important than ever now. – keep washing your hands, wear a face covering, limit your social contact and self-isolate if you have COVID-19 symptoms.”

“Data suggests that up to 50% of people with symptoms are not staying at home; this could have a deadly impact on older and more vulnerable loved ones, so please keep them safe by following the guidelines. Limiting our contact with our family and friends is hard, but it is important because the more contact we have, the more likely the virus will spread.”

“If you are contacted by test and trace, please self-isolate as directed and if you have symptoms, book a test as soon as you can.”