A total of 406 people have died from COVID-19 across Trafford.
The borough’s Director for Public Health, Eleanor Roaf, said ‘we must do better’ as the UK’s total death toll hit 100,000 people yesterday.
Ms Roaf struck a solemn tone at Trafford council’s public engagement board meeting this morning and said: “It is a very, very sad day for this country.
“Of course I extend my condolences to anyone who’s lost a loved one in Trafford, as I’m sure everyone else here does. It’s just too many people, we have to do better.
“We have to do everything we absolutely possibly can to stop these numbers of deaths from increasing, because it’s a disgrace, it’s a tragedy.”
Ms Roaf added, that she was pleased to note that Trafford’s rates are coming down, slowly, but warned the new variant of coronavirus is ‘very much more infectious’.
She said: “The things that we were previously doing which were good enough are just not working for our population anymore.
“Businesses that were operating ok and not seeing any cases are suddenly seeing a lot of cases.
“And again we have that big spread in households now, where previously not everyone in the household would have been ill with it, we’re now seeing a lot more spread within those households.
“So it really is everybody needing to think about taking additional care.”
In the week up to January 23, 709 people in Trafford tested positive for Covid, a number that worries Ms Roaf and her team.
She said: “And that is just the people who went and had positive test results, there will be more.
“People are tired, but most people are really compliant with the guidance, not everyone of course, but most people are trying really hard to live by the guidance. Actually we’re all living very differently, so when people say people aren’t taking this lockdown as seriously as the first one, I think, you know what, we are taking it seriously because when you see the way people are behaving, I see a lot of people being really, really responsible.”
The Director of Public Health said the council and her team must and can do more to make it as easy as possible for people to limit their social contacts.
Ms Roaf added: “I would particularly implore businesses to think about how they’re operating at the moment.
“If you have people in the office who could work from home, make them work from home. Do not encourage people to come into the office. People should be working from home if they possibly can.
“Make sure that all of your Covid security measures are absolutely rigorously applied and absolutely support your staff, make sure that they feel able to share their contact details, support them financially so they can self-isolate.
“Business policies look beautiful on paper but are they being carried out?”
Ms Roaf paid tribute to the ‘absolutely amazing’ NHS staff who have managed to get the vaccination programme up and running so quickly and effectively in Trafford.
She also implored those invited for their vaccine to take it up.
She said: “When you are asked to go for your vaccine, it is a prioritised system and it’s been prioritised because people in the top groups are more likely to die or to end up in hospital with COVID. It is not a trivial illness, this vaccine is safe and it’s effective and it will help you, it could save your life.
“What we’ve seen throughout is inequalities – the impact of inequality that’s been highlighted by COVID is staggering.
“Please, please don’t contribute to those inequalities by not taking that vaccine, if you’ve been asked to come for a vaccine, then you’ve been asked for a reason, it’s to make you safe.
“Please, please, please take up the vaccine but don’t change your behaviour afterwards, it takes a while to kick in.”
