Lincoln City manager Michael Appleton said the LNER Stadium has felt “eerie” without fans this season, but is looking forward to welcoming them back for the League One play-offs.
Lincoln City are preparing for a two-legged play-off semi final against Sunderland, with the first game taking place at the LNER Stadium on Wednesday, May 19 and the return fixture at the Stadium of Light three days later.
The Imps finished in fifth place after the 46-game League One regular season, securing a spot in the play-off positions to fight for a chance to play at Wembley and earn promotion to the Championship.
No coronavirus deaths for six days in Greater Lincolnshire
But 60 COVID cases on Thursday
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Thursday has marked six days without a coronavirus death in Greater Lincolnshire, but there have been 60 new cases – a decrease from 71 cases and no deaths this time last week.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 44 new cases in Lincolnshire, 12 in North Lincolnshire and four in North East Lincolnshire.
NHS England has also reported no new local hospital deaths across Greater Lincolnshire’s four hospital trusts for the sixth day in a row and currently stands at 1,305 since the pandemic started.
COVID rebels vandalise Cleethorpes school signs
“Staying human is more important than living in fear”
The signage at Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy in Cleethorpes was defaced with anti-covid messages.
Several signs at a school in Cleethorpes have been defaced with stickers encouraging lockdown breaches by an anonymous movement called The White Rose.
The anti-lockdown messages on the signage at Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy included “Staying human is more important than living in fear. Hands, Face, Embrace. Stay free, ditch the muzzle, the media is the virus”.
Another said “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.
Five days with no COVID deaths in Greater Lincolnshire
44 coronavirus cases on Wednesday
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
There have been no COVID-related deaths recorded in Greater Lincolnshire in the last five days, with just 44 new coronavirus cases reported on Wednesday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 19 cases in both Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire and six in North East Lincolnshire on May 12.
NHS England has also reported no new local deaths across Greater Lincolnshire’s hospitals for the fifth day in a row and currently stands at 1,305 since the pandemic started.
On Wednesday, national cases increased by 2,284 to 4,441,975, while deaths rose by 11 to 127,640.
The Lincoln bars and restaurants opening indoors from May 17 (rolling list)
A big day for so many
Look at the flames! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Businesses in Lincoln(shire) are gearing up for welcoming customers indoors on May 17 as lockdown restrictions are eased.
As of Monday, May 17, pubs, restaurants and coffee shops can reopen indoors to serve food and drink for customers, a month after they could reopen outdoors.
A number of establishments have been unable to reopen until this stage of the roadmap, due to not having enough outdoor space to safely and legally reopen in April.