Message From Hull City Council Seeking Residents Support During Restrictions
Dear Business Owner,
This year has been incredibly difficult one and we should all be proud of how our Hull business community has responded to the Coronavirus crisis and the huge challenges that have been presented to us.
During this crisis, Hull City Council have being doing our utmost to support our businesses, and will continue to do this in any way that we can. Information regarding the support and grants available can be found on our website www.hull.gov.uk and our dedicated Business Support Team is also available to offer advice and assistance on business.support@hullcc.gov.uk
I’m sure you are aware that Hull’s Coronavirus infection rate has climbed dramatically in the past few weeks and is now among the worst in the country (at the time of writing, it is 770 per 100,000). The situation is extremely serious and is already having a dramatic effect on the capacity of our local hospitals, and the ability of our wider public services, to cope.
As a city, we are at the toughest point of the pandemic so far. It has, therefore, never been more important that, together, we take collective responsibility and do everything possible to slow and stop the spread of the virus.
If you are unsure of the vital measures that you should have in place, please visit www.gov.uk for the latest guidance.
We must all remind ourselves of the key elements of what we should be doing to manage and mitigate the risk. In summary, these are:
• Staff who can work from home, should work from home wherever this is possible.
• Social distancing and COVID-Secure measures should be in place, and rigorously followed and monitored, in all workplaces which are remaining open to staff and customers.
• In the event of any staff presenting with COVID-19 symptoms, they should be advised to immediately self-isolate and book a test. Staff who have been in proximity with them must also be advised to immediately self-isolate too.
The reality is that the challenges and restrictions our business community faces will not be relaxed until we get this virus locally under control. As things stand, if/when the national lockdown ends on 2nd December, the restrictions for Hull will remain severe and may even increase.
This will bring yet more challenges, and further damage to our businesses and local economy. The simple message is that, the faster we bring the numbers down, the sooner we will get back to more normal trading conditions.
The pandemic has hit some businesses and sectors much harder than others, with many currently now closed; that’s why we are asking our wider business community to do everything that you can to protect yourselves, your workforce, your customers and our city. We have a responsibility to each other to ensure we are all taking the appropriate action.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Brady OBE, has written to the Prime Minister directly to press national Government for more assistance and resources so that we can properly support our businesses and communities to overcome the virus.
He has also written to all the city’s residents setting out the situation, reminding them of what they need to do and urgently seeking their support.
Only when we have this virus under control will we be able to ease restrictions and get our local economy back to where it should be. That’s why we are urging all the great businesses in our city to redouble your efforts and check that you are taking all of the necessary steps now to ensure we can get back on track as soon as possible.
Thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely,
Matt Jukes
Chief Executive
Hull City Council