Coronavirus: Shropshire to go into Tier 2 (High Alert) next week

Shropshire will be placed in the Tier 2 (High) local COVID alert when the four-week lockdown in England ends next week.

New restrictions in Shropshire will come into force on Wednesday 2 December as the county moves into the Tier 2 (High) local COVID alert.

Despite a reduction in the number of positive cases in the past week, Shropshire’s current 7-day infection rate sits at 168.7 per 100,000 of the population.

Under Tier 2 restrictions, people must not meet socially with friends and family indoors in any setting – including homes, pubs and restaurants – unless they live with them or have formed a support bubble with them.

From 00.01am on Wednesday 2nd December 2020, the new local alert level 2 restrictions for Shropshire will mean:

  • People must not socialise indoors with anyone who is not part of their household or support bubble, whether at home or in a public space
  • People can meet family and friends not in their household or support bubble in outdoor settings. When they do so, they must not meet in a group of more than six people
  • You should aim to reduce the number of journeys you make where possible
  • Pubs and bars must close unless operating as restaurants and can only serve alcohol with a substantial meal
  • Hospitality businesses and venues selling food and drink for consumption off the premises can continue to do so after 10pm as long as this is through delivery service, click-and-collect or drive-through
  • Shops, personal care, gyms and the wider leisure sector will reopen
  • Schools, colleges, universities and places of worship will remain open
  • Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of attendees
  • Public attendance at outdoor and indoor events (performances and shows) and spectator sport and business events, is permitted, limited to whichever is lower: 50% capacity, or either 2,000 people outdoors or 1,000 people indoors.
  • Organised grassroots sport will be able to resume

The Government has also announced that up to three households will be able to form bubbles to meet up during a five-day Christmas period of 23 to 27 December. When a bubble is formed it is fixed and must not be changed or extended further at any point.

Each Christmas bubble can meet at home, at a place of worship or an outdoor public place. The bubbles will be fixed, so you will not be able to mix with two households on Christmas Day and two different ones on Boxing Day. Households you are in a Christmas bubble with can’t be in others.