Every day the cry for stricter lockdown measures across the nation gets louder.

No doubt about it, cases are rising, and with that, we risk more deaths and the NHS being overwhelmed.

The Government introduced new lockdown tiers in an attempt to make the rules easier to understand for us all.

And while it probably has simplified what we can and can’t do, it has suddenly got much easier to fall into a tier where tighter measures are implemented.

On paper, Hertfordshire should probably be in Tier 2.

Nearly all of the districts are seeing cases much higher than where public health officials want it to be.

But we know the rates have been skewed due to errors surrounding the testing of university students – but we don’t know for sure by how much, and it has been tricky to get a lowdown on the latest situation.

The county council, for a couple of weeks, was almost silent on the coronavirus situation, adamant that a rise in cases was due to missing tests and skewed university rates.

Then suddenly, we were told cases were rising and we should “act now” – yet no context was given and no further information about outbreaks has been forthcoming, despite requests.

While we are told that council leaders are kept very well informed of the latest situation, but for an issue that affects us all, extracting vital information to tell you, our readers at a time when rates on paper are ballooning, has been difficult – even if it is to provide good news to reassure communities.

While important questions to the council seem to go unanswered, we will continue to do our best to keep communities informed on the latest Covid-19 situation in Hertfordshire.