A forecast for good weather has prompted North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire County Council to come together to issue a joint statement urging residents to stay home today and in coming days.
The statement has been issued by Richard Flinton chair of the multi-agency North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum and Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable and Gold commander leading the response to Covid-19.
They said: “At this critical time in our effort to control the spread of Covid-19 and with warm spring weather on the way tomorrow and continuing into next week’s Bank Holidays we are urging people to resist travelling to North Yorkshire’s national parks and coast and to stay at home to save lives.
“The next few weeks could not be more decisive in the nation’s fight to slow the rate of infection of this very dangerous virus that we must make every effort to battle together.
“What we do now will have a bearing on whether more people die or whether lives are spared. If we act irresponsibly more people will die. The choice could not be starker.
“North Yorkshire Police has patrols in place and will be out and about in numbers over the coming days encouraging people to follow the lockdown restrictions, explaining why they are so important and enforcing the regulations where necessary.
“We will be turning people away who do not live here permanently, or have travelled too far to take exercise.
“Although we know that infection rates and the number of deaths are set to rise significantly in North Yorkshire as elsewhere in the country, the way we act now will have a major impact on how we slow or speed up the infection rate in the coming weeks.
“Every single one of us has a crucial part to play and right now, despite the improving weather, the most important thing we can do is stay at home to save lives and protect the NHS.
“Do not be tempted to jump in the car and head out to beauty spots in North Yorkshire’s countryside or on the coast. This is not essential travel. The instruction is to exercise from your doorstep once a day and not to travel to other places for this.”
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