Are all public ‘health’ officials moronic or do the intelligent ones never speak? Calls for people to wear [useless] masks and social distance because [fake] vaccines are not enough – even though that was what people were told before they had them

East Riding Council’s public health lead has called on residents to wear masks and practice social distancing, to help keep coronavirus infections down ahead of a “tough” winter for hospitals.

Public Health Director, Andy Kingdom, said he would recommend following coronavirus measures, as vaccines alone would not keep infection rates down.

Mr Kingdom added the movement of trends now depended on people’s behaviour, warning masks and distancing may return as requirements if infections rise.

It comes as the number of new coronavirus infections recorded in the East Riding fell from 1,564 between Wednesday, September 1 and Tuesday, September 7 to 1,078 the following week.

The seven day rolling rate fell from 456 to 314, per 100,000 people, during the same period. The number of coronavirus patients in Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital was 78 as of Friday, September 17.

The figures come as Mr Kingdom said the NHS faced mounting pressure from earlier than usual cases of seasonal illnesses emerging, due to lower than normal resistance in the population. He added officials were braced for coronavirus case increases in October, leaving the elderly and clinically vulnerable at the greatest risk of being hospitalised, including those with two vaccines.