Rates going up in tier 2 areas and down in tier 3 areas

[Swingometer]

Looking at the UK COVID map today there is a very clear pattern of rates going up in London & SE and rates going down in the North/ Midlands which are currently tier 3

It seems crazy that Boris has set an arbitrary review date of 16 December before which he isn’t prepared to change anything despite rates in parts of SE now being higher than they have ever been in some areas of the North/ Midlands that were put in tier 3 after the second lockdown

Kent is already tier three. We can't go any higher!

Sorry @jaffacakefan I forgot about that, but excluding Kent the rest of London/SE is tier 2 I believe

Are the rates still going up in Kent?

The rates are still going up in nearly all areas of Kent. It is absolutely rife here.

Yeah, Kent is already in tier 3 and will almost certainly stay in tier 3. Most other parts of south are much lower - not London or Essex. I guess if other tier 3 Areas are faring better, they will drop to tier 2.

We’re in Tier 3 ( North) even though rates are coming down our mayor has said we will probably stay in Tier 3. I think they are going to tighten rather than release. Wales is struggling with the NHS, and they did a full lockdown including schools.

We are in 3. Our rates have gone down for 4 weeks. I was stupidly optimistic but now I think we will stay in 3

Are the rates still going up in Kent?

I’m in Medway which has got the second highest infection rate in England. We’ve been at around 600/100000 for a few days now. I’m hoping this is it, we’re plateauing and we start to see it going down now.

This isn’t surprising. Here in West Yorkshire we’ve been in the equivalent of tier 2 since August. In fact, we had harsher tier 2 as we couldn’t even meet people in the park. Not that anyone in the rest of the country gave a shit. No financial support etc until cases started rising in London 🤬

Our cases have gone up & up in tier 2. It doesn’t work. Since lockdown & tier 3, cases are finally falling. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m in Bristol in tier 3 - rates have come down dramatically but I don’t know if we will go to tier 2. I think they were hoping that tier 2 would maintain levels (rather than reduce them) but that doesn’t seem to be the case in London. Much as I would like the easing of restrictions in tier 2, I don’t want our cases to start rising again....

I’m also in West Yorkshire @MoirasRoses and it feels like forever since we’ve been able to meet up with others indoors

It’s obviously good news that rates are dropping here now but still feels like any sort of relaxation of the rules is a long way away

Yes, I'm in Hastings in East Sussex. We're all in shock here. We've consistently had one of the lowest rates in the country. The very lowest at times, including just about a month ago.
But, very suddenly, this last week, the rate here has shot up. Tripled approximately . I think people were lulled into a false sense of security, and were too relaxed. I think it's probable we'll be in tier 3 from Dec 19th, or Jan at latest. To be honest, we probably need to be, unless rates tumble back down again, which I obviously hope they do...

PS OP. I really feel for people in your neck of the woods, and most of the north, who've had tough restrictions for so long. I know we've been incredibly fortunate down here on the south coast overall. I've never personally taken it for granted, and have always felt considerable sympathy & empathy for those in harder hit areas. I'm glad your rates are going down, and hope you get some more freedom soon...

Any hope for the Midlands dropping down to tier 2? Leicester area. I’m thinking of the landlords I know :(