Looking forward to a safe Christmas and a better year in 2021

By county councillor Martin Shaw

The decision to put Devon in Tier 2 has naturally been met with some dismay. It seems to result from two factors. There has been a real spread of the coronavirus, including in the Seaton area, which the national lockdown had only just started to reduce; and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital is already coming under serious pressure.

In these circumstances, I think the MPs challenging this decision are wrong. We may quibble about the detail - why are indoor sporting events allowed when pubs are closed? - but there has to be effective restrictions.

If the Conservatives had listened to us when we challenged bed closures, maybe the Devon NHS would be better able to cope. Likewise, if the government had kept suppressing the virus over the summer, maybe we wouldn't have a crisis now.

But we are where we are, and it isn't just serious COVID cases we should be concerned about. Care for people with other serious conditions has already been affected by the second wave. We all need to have an NHS we can rely on.

After nine months, we should have learnt it just doesn't work to open things up without suppressing the virus first. It isn't a choice between health and the economy. If COVID is spreading, people will steer clear of face-to-face businesses anyway.

The government should be spending to support everyone, including the freelancers and others who've been excluded so far, until vaccines are widely taken up in the spring and we start to get out of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, we should all do our bit to support each other. Everyone who's on a full salary or pension should look out for the people who are getting by on furlough or Universal Credit. We should remember that many families in the local area are barely making ends meet in this stressful situation.

I've been working with Re:Store, the Seaton community group, to provide help at Christmas for all the families around the area (Beer, Colyton, Colyford and Uplyme too) whose children get free school meals (127 children in total). Please contribute to their crowdfunder.

As you make your Christmas plans, remember to keep your family and your community safe. The virus spreads easily in extended family groups in indoor spaces. Don't give it a chance.

Let's all hold out for a better year in 2021.