Steve Brown, Devon’s Director of Public Health, was asked this week, with coronavirus cases in Devon already high and predicted to get considerably higher this month due to the Omicron variant, what more should people in the county do.
He said:
“This latest surge demonstrates that coronavirus is still very much with us, and still a serious health risk to many people.
“The Omicron variant, while extremely infectious, may not be leading to the same extent to high levels of illness or death, but the health risk to people who may be immuno-supressed or who have other underlying health conditions is still extremely serious.
“Add to that the risk to health, or at best disruption to day jobs while self-isolating, for the thousands of front line staff in health, social care and other essential workers, and such high levels of coronavirus are likely to have a dramatic impact on the delivery of the services we rely heavily upon.
“We know what helps reduce risk – it’s taking up the vaccine when invited, including the booster; wearing face coverings where appropriate; self-isolating when we need to.
“So I’m asking people to follow the guidance, if not for yourself, but for others – for those people who are more likely to get seriously ill from having coronavirus; and people whose professions we rely on to keep essential services running.”
