The Leader of B&NES Council, Councillor Kevin Guy, has called on residents to voluntarily resume wearing face coverings in public places to help cut Covid-19 infection rates.

Covid rates in B&NES are increasing rapidly. Last week, Bath and North East Somerset had the highest seven-day Covid rate in England and the numbers are still increasing.

  Councillor Kevin Guy said: “We need to take urgent action if we are to protect our communities and minimise the risk to the health and wellbeing of our residents.

“Pressure on the NHS is growing both nationally and regionally, and there is increasing evidence of rising numbers of infections in our schools.

“We may hope that half term will act as a circuit-breaker and offer some respite, but it is essential that we act quickly and decisively locally to address the threat.

 “I am calling on everyone in B&NES voluntarily to resume wearing masks in public places such as shops and entertainment venues, as well as in educational establishments and on public transport, unless they are exempt.”

 Councillor Guy and other Council Leaders are also asking Government to give local authorities more power over actions that would help cut Covid infection rates. He added: “I urge all our residents to recognise the peril of the current spike in Covid cases, to protect their own health and that of their families, neighbours and the community.”

Meanwhile Metro Mayor Dan Norris is writing to 10,000+ public facing businesses across the region with a poster to display urging customers to wear a face covering. He has also written to the Secretary of State for Health calling for vital additional resources for the West of England. 

The Metro Mayor suspects “the sharp rise is in part due to the PCR testing fiasco where tens of thousands of local people with Covid were wrongly told they were negative. Now we face a hugely difficult situation.”

He has written to the Health Secretary to request additional assistance as well as renewing his call for Metro Mayor powers to make face coverings mandatory as is the case in some other parts of the country. 

“I urge everyone who can to please wear a mask. Get vaccinated. Wash your hands. Doing this is the best possible gift we can give our NHS this Christmas.”

Dan Norris said: “There is a looming crisis. The last thing I want to see is more death and heartbreak, with patients queuing on trolleys as our precious NHS is brought to its knees.

“As the Metro Mayor, with responsibility for jobs, I am also deeply worried that the regional recovery is about to be undermined. The Government should be intervening now and I will keep asking them to do so. But they currently seem overly fixated on sticking to their Plan A when Plan B is clearly necessary.” 

Given that the problem was caused nationally, Mr Norris believes the Government has a special obligation to the West of England.

He has written to the Health Secretary to request additional assistance as well as renewing his call for Metro Mayor powers to make face coverings mandatory as it is in some other parts of the country.

“While it is down to us, my message to everyone is very simple.

“The killer virus has not gone away. Flu season is approaching.”