Express & Star comment: We must remain vigilant over coronavirus
It might just be the case that from a health perspective, we have got through the very worst of what Covid-19 has to throw at us.
Go back a few weeks and daily death rates were in their hundreds, while cases spread like wildfire as health officials understandably struggled to get to grips with the pandemic.
Things have improved drastically, but it is becoming increasingly clear that our battle with the coronavirus is far from over.
Across the country – including in this region – spikes of the virus continue to occur on a daily basis.
Some areas have gone the best part of a week without recording a single case, only for 20 positive tests to occur on the same day.
Thankfully our testing regime is now at a level that enables officials to pinpoint where a cluster is likely to have originated from.
However, as we have seen in Leicester and to a lesser extent in Blackburn, increased levels of Covid-19 can lead to draconian measures being brought back in.
The danger here in the West Midlands is that should an air of complacency set in regarding social distancing, we could see any number of local lockdowns implemented.
And as health officials have today warned, such measures will not necessarily be restricted to the local authority where the spike has occurred.
It goes without saying that from a public health perspective, we must do all we can to prevent a second wave of the virus.
But we should also be concerned about the economic impact that such an outcome would have.
Thousands of businesses across our region have recently been able to start trading again after being forced to mothball operations for several months.
In almost every line of work, people are starting to return to the workplace as we embrace a new post-Covid world.
The devastation that a fresh lockdown would cause does not bear thinking about.
We all have an important role to play.
Only by remaining vigilant can we hope to stop the spread of the virus once and for all.
