Editorial:

Today some school children will return to school. Their experience will be very different from anything they have previously encountered, with new measures in place to reduce their risk and that of their teacher. Class sizes will be smaller and play time will be very different indeed. The social distancing principles will be drilled into them, but everyone acknowledges that it will difficult to enforce with young children.

Not all schools will re-open, the decision is being taken locally, firstly by local authorities and then the governing bodies of each establishment. This allows local factors to be taken into account. Most of the local authorities in the North East and North West will not be permitting school re-opening yet. They have had infection levels which are significantly above the national average. Whilst the North East is now calming down, daily infection levels in the Northwest are still double that elsewhere in the Country.

Local decisions are now the key to fighting this epidemic as the Government strategy is muddled. In this Village we'll be taking independent advice on the re-opening of our facilities to ensure that we can manage the risks carefully. However, at the end of the day it is down to each individual to manage their own risk. They need to decide whether they feel safe in any particular setting, and avoid those places where they feel at risk.

Birthdays:

None that we know of!

Nationally:

113 deaths were reported by the Government yesterday taking us to 38,489 across the UK. The numbers of new daily infections dropped to 1,936. Both of these figures reflect the usual weekend reporting blip.

Locally:

In Northamptonshire another 13 cases were reported yesterday with the specimen dates being spread back over the last few days. The total number of cases is now 1,498.

1 new infection was reported in East Northamptonshire yesterday.

Daily links (all verified):

And finally . . .

There are many risks going to the seaside ...

Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives