Tier four 'right decision' for Somerset, council says

Non-essential shops in Somerset must close under tier four rules

Placing Somerset into tier four is the "right decision", Somerset County Council's leader has said.

The announcement, made on Thursday, puts a further 20 million people across England into the toughest tier.

David Fothergill said: "We've seen a trebling over the last three weeks of infections and in the last week alone we've seen a 37% increase."

Some firms have expressed frustration over the short notice and the long-term effects of closure on their businesses.

'Community immunity'

In Axbridge and Cheddar, case rates were 660 per 100,000 population in the seven days up to Christmas Day, with a total of 61 cases recorded.

This compares to a total of eight cases recorded in the seven days leading up to 18 December.

Mr Fothergill added that controlling the spread of the disease was "down to individuals" but people had "got a bit lax".

"We were very fortunate in the early days, in the summer our infection rates were very low.

"But the problem with that is we now have very low community immunity, we have relatively few people who have been exposed.

"So with the new variant coming into the county, you can see it beginning to lift."

Jennifer (pictured wearing glasses) runs a hair salon in Yeovil (photo taken in December 2019)

The new restrictions mean hair salons, beauty parlours, indoor gyms and non-essential shops must close.

Hair salon owner Jennifer Hemmings, said: "What made us quite cross is that there was no notice.

"It's very short-sighted doing it so quickly on what was known to be a busy day.

"If they left it one more day most places are closed on New Year's Day."

Ms Hemmings, who runs Cutting Edge in Yeovil, added that a full lockdown was preferable.

"We've got tier threes on our borders which can remain open and they've probably got a lot of clients from Yeovil going to them - from a business point of view you can't expect them to turn it away.

"People can choose to travel, whether they should or not is a different matter," she said.

"If someone is travelling to Sherborne for work, why would they think twice about travelling to Sherborne to do something else?"

Rob Harris said he was concerned about how long the tier four lockdown would last

Gym owner, Rob Harris described the new rules as "frustrating".

"I understand the national picture is what it is and I understand this may need to happen," he said.

"We've invested a lot of time, effort and resources into putting things in place and it doesn't feel like this is wasted, but to still then put us into full lockdown when we've done everything we possibly can is incredibly frustrating."

He added that his gym in Yeovil had initially lost about 45% of its membership during the first national lockdown.

While some members had since returned to Progress Gym, he was worried about the long-term effect on his business.

"My concern is that people are going to be demoralised," said Mr Harris.

"We don't know how long this lockdown is going to be and that's going to have a damaging effect on people's willingness to continue to support us or return afterwards because if it's continually taken away, it's going to reduce their faith of getting in regularly."

Another gym owner in Chard, Simon Lunn, said: "Post-Christmas is normally a busy time for a gym but we have to come up with another way of doing it.

"We are going to teach via online classes for our members and we are looking at outdoor activities which are trickier with the weather."

Mr Lunn who runs Phoenix Fitness, has also loaned out equipment for free to members.

"You need momentum in the gym business for people to be able to come and know they can continue to come so at the moment they are nervous to commit."

• LOCKDOWN LOOK-UP: The rules in your area

• TESTING: How do I get a virus test?

• LOOK-UP TOOL: How many cases in your area?

• THE R NUMBER: What it means and why it matters