Yorkshire councillor who lost relative to Covid-19 'scared' about rising infection rates

Official figures showed Kirklees had the 13th highest infection rates in the country and cases were increasing rapidly.

Liversedge & Gomersal councillor Lisa Holmes issued a statement she described as “probably the most important message I’ve ever written as a councillor.”

Coun Holmes said the Covid infection rate in Kirklees in August was 26.1 per 100,000 of population in August. A couple of weeks ago it was 464.6 and last week it jumped to 515.

Coun Holmes came off a call with council chief executive Jacqui Gedman and said: “I will tell you now that I am scared. I’ve kept faffing about with the wording of this, wondering if I should be telling you that, but the truth is that I am scared.

“If we don’t follow lockdown, and stop this terrible rise in cases, then I envisage a terrible situation, one which is much worse than we have now.”

Writing on Facebook, she added: “I’ve lost a member of my family to Covid-19 and I know people who have it right now.

“This is real, and if it affects you badly, which it could, then the illness or the end can be painful, undignified and truly horrible, even with the very best medical care.

“I like to think that at my age, with no known health problems, that I will just ‘bat it off’ - but I can’t know that for certain, and neither can you. If we carry on with the current trajectory then I dread to think what will come next.”

Kirklees Council said 18 people in Kirklees died of Covid last week. In October, 50 people died which is more than any of the previous four months combined.

Director of public health Ruth Spencer-Henshall said: “Covid-19 is currently spreading quickly in Kirklees and our rates are now the 13th highest in the country, with more than 2,000 people in the last week becoming infected.

“These are high numbers, and ultimately they mean more people in hospital and more people losing their lives. If our rates continue to increase at the rate they currently are, we seriously risk our health services reaching a tipping point. We can turn this around, but we all have to step up and play our part.”

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