Today’s update includes:
- Requests and Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team and beyond
- Summary of local news
- Key national and international news
Requests and Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team and beyond
- We now have over 4,146 members in our Facebook group
- We posted a reminder to please use our OFFER/REQUEST/IMPORTANT UPDATE/QUESTION system when submitting posts to our Facebook Group. We’ve dealt with around 3,240 posts in the past month, and it makes moderating much easier if people use this system.
- Amplify Stroud have penned a piece which discusses the debates political leaders within the Stroud district, mainly our MP and the leader of the district council, are engaging with the increasingly heated debate over PPE in particular. They draw upon testimony from local healthcare workers for this, in order to demonstrate the extent and specifics of this issue and to situate the political clashes that are happening here and nationally. It’s well worth a read.
- The Long Table have been asked to put freezers and Long Table meals into 9 more hospitals around the county. They have been able to buy a few freezers, but not enough. If anyone has an under counter freezer they no longer need they would love to take it off your hands and put it into a local hospital.
- Sasha Evans from Brand Zero has started a fundraiser to fund free hand balm for health and care workers: “I have heard so many stories about the terrible red-raw hands suffered by nurses and carers at the end of a shift after all that sanitiser and harsh soap, and people who have tried this pure and natural beeswax balm say it can really go a long way in soothing painful skin. I have a few more small pots to give away but nowhere near enough. I would love to make and distribute as much as is needed or wanted… My idea is to try to raise some money to pay for the basic ingredients and make and distribute it for free to nurses and other health workers who would like some. Every penny will be spent on buying 100% natural ingredients for the hand salves, which I will then make and distribute at cost price.” Donate to the hand balm project.
- If you are you a non-profit service or organisation that wants to promote their services in this time of Covid 19 – Bodhi Creative – a freelance graphic designer – is offering their free design support, so please share with anyone who could find this helpful.
- Co-op Cainscross needs staff. Please email your details and put reference to Cainscross to: Careers@midcounties.coop. They are also looking for volunteers to deliver.
- Treasure Seekers in Gloucester usually run a support cafe focussed on people with mental health issues and are carrying on offering support by phone and webchat. Call 01452 307201. Treasure Seekers Web chat: 6-11pm 7 days a week. Treasure Seekers also need volunteers to help shop or deliver items.
- Guideposts Gloucestershire has a helpline for people who are anxious about self-isolation and need some support and reassurance with both practical tasks and their mental health
Local updates:
- County Covid-19: Two more people in Gloucestershire have died from coronavirus as the total in the county reaches 115. This does not include those who have died with coronavirus in the community or in care homes, so will be an underestimate
- The number of cases in Gloucestershire rose to 768 on Thursday but it is unclear if this is due to more testing or more infections in the county. (above both from the Gloucestershire Live link)
- Some good news! Gloucestershire Hospitals have now discharged 217 patients who were admitted to our local hospitals with COVID-19. They say: “This was made possible by the amazing commitment and dedication of staff and Gloucestershire Managed Services colleagues – thank you #TeamGlosHospitals.” They also write “we also really appreciate the care and commitment from everyone working in health and social care throughout the county, and of course the support of our brilliant community and countless volunteers; we have been overwhelmed with the level of support. Thanks to everyone #StayHomeSaveLives”
- Stagecoach are offering all NHS staff free bus travel during this time (Gloucestershire Live)
- The Government will need to provide coronavirus tests across more than 200 care homes in Gloucestershire, “as it aims to fulfil its pledge to test all residents and staff with symptoms.” “The Government previously admitted that only 505 social care staff had been tested by Easter Monday in the UK. Nadra Ahmed, executive chairman of the NCA, said: “The primary aim of care providers has always been to protect the people we care for and those who support them, our amazing workforce. Sadly, the lack of testing and the issues of access to personal protective equipment has made it challenging and exhausting for care services as the virus began to emerge.” “Separate figures from the charity Skills for Care show care homes in Gloucestershire alone employed 8,700 people in 2018-19” (Stroud News and Journal)
- Asda, Aldi, Tesco Morrisons and Lidl announce new rules and opening times (Stroud News and Journal)
- Aldi are launching home delivery for the first time in a bid to help vulnerable people in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. (Stroud News and Journal)
- The NHS Trust that manages community hospitals in Stroud and the Vale near Dursley – as well as health clinics like Beeches Green, and county-wide services like district nursing, said they’re grateful for the efforts people are making to support them with headbands and masks and scrubs.
National news:
- “As of 9am 17 April, 438,991 tests have concluded, with 21,328 tests on 16 April. 341,551 people have been tested of which 108,692 tested positive. As of 5pm on 16 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 14,576 have sadly died.“
- This means 847 people died over the last 24 hour period, and 5,599 people tested positive. Neither figure suggests a downward trend. (above both from Department of Health and Social Care tweet)
- “NHS bosses have asked doctors and nurses to work without full-length gowns when treating Covid-19 patients, as hospitals across England are set to run out of supplies within hours” (The Guardian)
- The UK Government will create a vaccine Taskforce which will bring together experts in government, industry and academia (Evening Standard)
- “A GP and a clinical support worker have become the latest NHS staff members to die after contracting coronavirus.” “UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the government had identified 27 NHS workers who had died after contracting coronavirus, but the true total is thought to be significantly higher. The Guardian knows of at least 58 private and NHS healthcare staff who have died from coronavirus. The government has come under growing pressure over shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) in healthcare settings as the death toll among frontline workers has risen” (The Guardian)
International developments:
- There are now more than 2.2 million confirmed cases worldwide and over 150,000 people have died after testing positive
- More than half a million people have tested positive but recovered – 564,525 (above both from Johns Hopkins University tracker).
- “The European commission says 98,900 EU citizens are still stuck abroad, though efforts to bring them home continue. That compares with 600,000 who had reported being stranded at the start of the outbreak” (the Guardian)
- “President Donald Trump has appeared to endorse protests against stringent lockdown measures in several states”, even as “The US saw its highest daily death toll on Thursday, recording 4,591 deaths in 24 hours.” (BBC News)
- “Germany’s health minister says the month-long lockdown has brought his country’s coronavirus outbreak under control… The infection rate has dropped to 0.7 – that is, each infected person passed the virus to fewer than one other. In Germany 3,868 have died of Covid-19 – fewer than in Italy, Spain or France.”
- “Authorities in the Chinese city where the global coronavirus pandemic began late last year have revised its death toll upwards by 50%, as the government in Beijing again denied there had been any cover-up in its handling of the crisis. A local government taskforce in Wuhan charged with virus prevention added 1,290 fatalities to the city’s toll, taking the confirmed count to 3,869 from a previously reported 2,579.” (The Guardian)
Notes
Please remember we have a (growing) list of resources to support your emotional and mental health during this time on our website.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this update via our Facebook group.