Andrew Jones MP has put his support behind the need for a second lockdown and a need for vaccination.
Andrew Jones MP said:
I hoped fervently that the local tiered systems of lockdown would work. It hasn’t worked quickly enough to prevent infections rising dramatically including in our area. When the facts change you should not simply plough on regardless. You need to change what you are doing. I think most people recognise this and most of us now seem to know more and more people who have contracted the virus so we can see for ourselves that the situation is evolving rapidly.
Hospitals in other parts of Yorkshire are already facing bed capacity issues, as they fill with COVID-19 patients. They are seeing case numbers above the previous peak in places like Leeds.
So I will support the new lockdown to get the infection rate down. We can then, and hopefully soon, revert to the local tiered system. I must level with people though. Infection rates are rising, and fast. When the briefing to Ministers says that NHS could run out of bed capacity on the 4th December, using NHS agreed modelling, and we have already seen problems in nearby hospitals, then action was necessary. It is going to be a bumpy ride until we can vaccinate against COVID-19 and as the infection rates and capacity in our hospitals change so the measures we take will have to change.
