Working Together: Covid restrictions update

06/07/2021

Dear members, families, carers, volunteers and staff

As you may be aware, the government has now announced the ending of legal Covid restrictions from 19 July. 

At Working Together the safety of our members, volunteers and staff remains our top priority and, in line with government advice to ‘maintain caution’, we be continuing with our existing Covid Safe procedures in the immediate term. 

This will include staff and volunteers continuing to wear face masks at all times inside and asking members who are able to, to wear masks when moving around the building and where social distancing isn’t possible. 

We will no longer be allocating members to a specific room only but we will still be ensuring that we make the best use of all the space we have available to aid social distancing.

We will also continue with our temperature checks, regular hand washing and additional ventilation and cleaning measures. 

We encourage members, where possible, to follow government recommendations and test twice a week using the simple Lateral Flow testing. We are happy to provide advice and support with this and this is especially important if members are attending more than one day service. 

The number of Covid cases is rising significantly in Shropshire and there is every likelihood that more of us will come into close contact with someone who is Covid positive. 

Whilst we are in a different place to late January (when we closed our doors for face-to-face services because of the high number of cases in Shropshire) because many members, volunteers and staff are now double vaccinated, it is still worth remembering that having been ‘double jabbed’ does not remove the risk of someone being Covid positive – and therefore being infectious to others. 

Also, according to scientific evidence, being vaccinated twice is just over 80% effective against becoming seriously unwell with Covid, but this figure is slightly lower in some people who are classed as Clinical Extremely Vulnerable.  

We would continue to ask that if you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, whatever your vaccination status, you inform Working Together at the earliest opportunity. If this is the case, please do not attend face to face services until a PCR test has been undertaken and the results have been returned as negative, or until the end of the government’s recommended period of self-isolation has been completed (currently 10 days).

Working Together can give you advice and support on taking PCR tests.   

The government’s announcement is of course very good news and a step on the road to normality, but the Prime Minister has also been clear that Coronavirus ‘continues to carry risks to you and your family’ and he says that ‘we cannot simply revert instantly from Monday 19th July to life as it was before Covid.’. 

At Working Together, we will continue to err on the side of caution to ensure we keep our members, volunteers and staff as safe as we can.

We will keep our procedures under regular review and thank you again for your support with this. 

Chief Officer

Background information…

• How to stay safe and help prevent the spread from 19 July

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04/11/2020

Covid-19 – National Restrictions: 5 November 2020

As you will be aware, new national restrictions have been announced for England starting from 5 November and the Government is now requiring people to stay at home, except for a few specific purposes.

Working Together, including Youth Club and Diversity, will continue to offer face to face sessions at Rockspring centre – as we understand that day opportunities and support, including youth clubs, are included in the government’s definition of a specific purpose.

Keeping our members and staff safe is our top priority and we will continue to follow our Covid Safe procedures –

• Wash hands – keep washing your hands regularly
• Cover face – wear a face covering in enclosed spaces
• Make space – stay at least 2 metres apart – or 1 metre with a face covering or other precautions

We also ask that members continue to confirm that they are free of Covid symptoms before attending each session at Working Together.

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

(Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms)

We also ask that our members, staff and volunteers all continue to follow the new guidelines outside of Working Together – and stick to the rules regarding who you can see and social distancing. This will help to keep us all safe.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact:

• manager@workingtogetherludlow.co.uk

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