Message to North East Derbyshire residents from Derbyshire's Public Health Director

Hello, I'm Dean Wallace, Director of Public Health for Derbyshire.

It's my job to protect the health of Derbyshire people and a huge part of mine, and my team's work, is to help prevent the spread of coronavirus in our communities.

Despite all of our best efforts in sticking to the rules and doing the right thing, confirmed cases continue to rise across the county as they are nationally.

The Boroughs of Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire have now been placed on 'high' alert under the Government's new three tier Covid system.

This means the following restrictions are now in place in Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire

• Different households or support bubbles should not mix indoors – at home, someone else's home, pubs, restaurants, hotels or other hospitality venues, leisure centres or shops
• Outdoors people should stick to the Rule of Six, including children
• If going on holiday, this should only be with the people they live with or that are in their support bubble
• Family and friends can provide informal childcare as part of a childcare bubble. The bubble is limited to two households only so informal childcare is provided by the same carers each time
• Only visit care homes in exceptional circumstances
• All businesses, leisure facilities and other places that are allowed to open by law can remain open providing they meet Covid-19 secure guidance
• Pubs, bars and restaurants and other hospitality venues close at 10pm. Drive-through services, click and collect and delivery services can continue after 10pm
• You can take part in sport and physical activity outdoors but organised indoor exercise classes are only permitted if it's possible to avoid mixing with people you don't live with or share a support bubble with. There are exceptions for people with a disability.

Test and Trace data should continue to be collected in venues including pubs, restaurants, cafes, hotels and hairdressers and also cinemas, theatres and concert halls.

Of course we should all continue to wash our hands, stay 2 metres apart where possible and wear a face covering, unless exempt to avoid contracting the virus and passing it on.

I'd like to ask you all to follow this guidance to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. For parents and carers it also means making sure teenagers and young people are following the rules as they can pass the virus on to elderly or vulnerable relatives.

We all have a duty to do everything we can to stop the spread. I'm really proud of the way our communities have supported each other through this epidemic but this isn't over – we simply cannot afford to take our eye off the ball.

I understand that it is frustrating but it is more important than ever that we all stick to the rules.

Thanks for your time – let's all stick together and do this for Derbyshire.

For more information on how to stay safe visit:

www.derbyshire.gov.uk/coronavirus