A new set of tiers has been announced for England when lockdown finishes on December 2.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the changes in Parliament on Monday.
But where will Reading sit?
Before this second national lockdown at the start of November, Reading was subjected to the least tough set of restrictions in tier 1.
With relatively low rates when the new tier restrictions came in, case numbers started to climb, and leader of the council Jason Brock held discussions about Reading potentially moving into tier 2.
The lockdown put any plans to move tiers on hold and Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) public health consultant David Munday said earlier this month Reading could stay in tier 1 if people followed the rules.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) spoke to the council to get its reaction to the new tier system and where it thinks Reading will land in terms of restrictions.
Councillor Jason Brock, leader of RBC, said he has “no idea at all” what tier Reading will go into.
He said he could not say what tier he thinks Reading should go into as the council does not known what the criteria is, adding: “We only know what is known publicly.”
But he said we will start to get an idea over the next few days, with Government departments holding meetings with public health officials and senior council officers across the country.
Cllr Brock said the lockdown “seems to be having an overall positive impact”.
“It has certainly slowed the rate of increase and I think we are seeing a reduction in cases across the Berkshire West area. It is encouraging,” he added.
And he praised residents for following the residents, saying: “There is quite a bit of evidence that local people have followed the rules well.”
He also urged people to continue the key practices to stop the spread of the virus:
Wearing a mask
Keeping your hands clean
Social distancing
Councillor Graeme Hoskin, lead member for Health at RBC, said the council will have more of an idea of where Reading is at with cases tomorrow, when its weekly figures are updated.
He said: “I believe it is a matter of still monitoring the numbers.”
Cllr Hoskin said the council would have concerns if Wokingham and West Berkshire went into tier one and Reading into tier two.
“If everyone goes into tier two to start with that would make sense,” he added.
Cllr Brock agreed that splitting by local authority boundaries would create issues and said the government has indicated it would take a regional approach but had not defined what that means.
How do case numbers compare to pre-lockdown?
In the week before the lockdown (October 28 – November 3), the rate was 150 per 100,000.
Looking at the latest figures, there were 158 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days (November 12-18), a small rise.
This compares to an average of 217.1 per 100,000 in England and these figures put Reading outside the top 150 local authorities with the highest rates of infections in the country.
Therefore, there is little chance of Reading moving into tier 3.
But it is unclear if Reading will stay in tier 1 or move into the next tier.
West Berkshire and Wokingham’s cases are far lower this week, with 99.1 per 100,000 and 114.5 per 100,000 respectively.
If Reading is paired up regionally with the two authorities as Berkshire West, this may mean Reading joins them in tier 1 or all three areas go into tier 2.
If the whole of Berkshire is looked at together, Slough, with a 7-day infection rate of 345.7 cases per 100,000, would likely push all of Berkshire into tier two.
Another criteria is the number of patients in hospital.
Five patients died in the last week (November 17-23) and 63 patients are currently in the hospital with Covid-19.
Dom Hardy, chief operating officer at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, told the LDRS hospital admissions are not increasing at the same level as in the first stage of the pandemic and he “expects” the hospital to cope.
READ MORE: Royal Berkshire Hospital boss provides update on Covid-19
What is the difference between the three tiers?
Tier 1 remains largely the same but people are encouraged to work from home if they can
Tier 2 would mean pubs/restaurants are only able to serve alcohol with a meal
Tier 3 would mean all hospitality shuts except for collection/delivery
Shops, gyms, personal care (such as hairdressers), collective worship, weddings and outdoor sports will all return, and the rule of six will apply across all tiers
There is no mixing of households indoors in either tier 2 or 3.
The government says the tiers each area will go into will be announced on Thursday – based on the latest data.
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