Tuesday 28th April 2020

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

• Today was International Workers’ Memorial Day, and at 11am we marked a minute silence to remember people who died doing their job.
• Following the minute silence, we shared the “digital tribute and memorial to the dedicated members of our health and social care family who gave their lives during the fight against Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19)”, maintatined by NursingNotes. Their interactive map provides photos and brief details for “At least 143 health and social care workers are thought to have died from COVID-19.“ 
• They have also “set up the NursingNotes Health and Social Care Emergency Aid Fund sponsoring both the Cavell Nurses’ Trust and RCN Foundation to ensure aid can quickly reach health and social care workers affected by COVID-19.” Donate via: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=NursingNotes&pageUrl=2
• We’ve had an offer from a company who wants to donate hand sanitiser for charities & organisations. Does your organisation need sanitiser? Do you know any that do? Please tag and comment on our facebook post so we can compile a list of groups that could benefit from this.
• Siobhan Baillie – MP for Stroud constituency – posted about testing for key workers. If you are a key worker, you can get tested for coronavirus, using this Gov.uk link. Siobhan Baillie provides a list explaining who will be considered a key worker for these self-referal tests on her website.
• Rachel Sleigh posted about the testing for NHS and care staff specifically – “including NHS hospital, community and mental health staff; GPs and practice staff; pharmacists, ambulance workers and care home and domiciliary care staff”. These workers are all eligible for testing through a separate One Gloucestershire service if they are exhibiting symptoms. “A drive through, appointment only testing centre is operating in Brockworth, Gloucester, where up to 160 staff or members of their household can be swabbed each day.”
• We posted about The Workforce Coronavirus Support Group – a Facebook group for “workers concerned about how their employer and/or Government is dealing with COVID-19”. We issued a REQUEST – do we have members who would be interested in and/or could set up a similar group locally? We could provide some support with this but would like it to be something a different set of admins and moderators could manage independently. The national Workforce Coronavirus Support group can be found on Facebook, they also have a Coronavirus Handbook for Workers facebook page, and can be found at the workforcemovement.org website. James Beecher posted about the three demands they are making for International Workers’ Memorial Day: full protective kit for all essential workers, full stop to non-essential work, and full pay guarantee for all workers who cannot work.
• We posted about “Cash grants of up to £1,500 per year are available for nurses who find themselves in a difficult financial situation, including as a result of the coronavirus crisis”, from the Junius S Morgan Benevolent Fund. Thanks to Amanda Hayman for this information
• StroudCo Food Hub posted about how they “have decided to offer priority ordering to customers who are vulnerable or in isolation. If this applies to you or someone you know and [your postcode starts with GL51, GL52, GL53, GL54, GL55, GL66, GL67, GL68, GL9, GL102 or GL103], then please make sure you are signed up as customer… You will also need to get in contact with us at manager@stroudco.org.uk with your name and the email you have made an account with to let us know that you need to be tagged as a priority. We will also be offering weekly deliveries to other customers who also live within the same location boundaries, but the time slot we will be open for these orders will be reduced. If you are quick you can make an order today to be delivered this Friday! But the shop will close 8am tomorrow [Wednesday] morning!” We willl keep you updated regarding the StroudCo Food Hub in these daily updates.
• If you live in the Dursley area, Jessica Anna Home’s Scrubs and Laundry Bags group are looking for volunteers to sew scrubs. They are linked in with the Gloucestershire Sewing For The NHS group who are collating sewn material and have lots of great guides on production etc.
• Katie Conlon, who has been collecting ‘hug packs’ for NHS and social care workers posted a “Massive thank-you to Sasha from Brand Zero Naturals!”. You can donate to cover the ingredient costs via JustGiving.
• Steve Gower shared a recording of him discussing the Fruit for the Key Workers of Gloucesterrshire project on BBC Gloucestershire this morning. It starts 2.06. You can donate via Facebook.
• Sarah Dixon passed on that “From this week each Long Table food box will include a template (designed by Marcus Walters Studio), of a plate in the middle of a place mat with a simple invitation to draw, write, doodle or paint on the paper plate! You can all share online using the hashtag #FeedCreativityGlos alongside other people’s ideas and designs.”
• David Reynolds posted about a local business supplying plants: ukgardenplants.com, where you can “order locally grown garden plants to your front door. All grown in Gloucestershire, by a small independent business.”
• We now have 4,225 members. Please encourage your local friends to join us. Let’s get fact-checked news about the coronavirus out to as many people in the area as we can, and make sure everyone in Stroud District who needs support can get it.  

Local updates:

• “Five more people have died from coronavirus in Gloucestershire, bringing the total figures of those who have sadly passed from the virus to 176. The deaths, at one of the county’s two main hospitals at Cheltenham General Hospital or Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, brings the total COVID deaths for the county to 153 for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. A further 23 at Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust which runs community hospitals and mental health settings. Positive cases of coronavirus in Gloucestershire are up to 1,112, from 1,084 on Saturday.” (Gloucestershire Live)
• By comparison, local counties have the following confirmed case numbers: Herefordshire – 244, South Gloucestershire – 333, Swindon – 347, Bristol – 576, Worcestershire – 1,047. (Gloucestershire Live)
• Secretary of State for Health and Social Care “Matt Hancock has said that he has ‘no doubt’ that a review will be held into whether the Cheltenham Festival in March should have gone ahead… However the government today clarified that no official review has been announced or confirmed.” (Gloucestershire Live)
• “The University of Gloucestershire is under fire for charging students for their accommodation after they have left it to return home due to the coronavirus pandemic.” (Gloucestershire Live)
• Cheltenham Half Marathon announced that, though their event is four months away, they have had to postpone until Sunday 26th September 2021, saying in a statement: “postponing the event until next year is the most responsible course of action to ensure we deliver a high quality, safe, sustainable and unforgettable event. Our top priority is the health of participants, volunteers, supporters and local residents, along with delivering an outstanding event experience for our runners. Although the event is still 4 months away, none of us know when this pandemic will be brought under control.

National news:

• “As of 9am 28 April, there have been 763,387 tests, with 43,563 tests on 27 April. 599,339 people have been tested of which 161,145 tested positive. As of 5pm on 27 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 21,678 have sadly died.” (Department of Health and Social Care pinned tweet)
• The UK now has the fifth highest number of confirmed cases – passing Germany with 159,137 (France has 166,036, Italy 201,505, Spain 232,128, and the USA 1,002,498).
• The UK is one of five countries where over 20,000 people have already been recorded as dying after testing positive for Covid-19 (with France, Spain, Italy and the USA).
• The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released information about “Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional: week ending 17 April 2020“. The ONS say: “The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 17 April 2020 (Week 16) was 22,351; this represents an increase of 3,835 deaths registered compared with the previous week (Week 15) and 11,854 more than the five-year average; this is the highest weekly total recorded since comparable figures begin in 1993.”

• Across the UK, 39.2% of all deaths mentioned “novel coronavirus (COVID-19)”, though in “London, over half (55.5%) of deaths registered in Week 16 involved COVID-19; the North West and North East also had a high proportion of COVID-19 deaths, accounting for 42.3% and 41.1% respectively of deaths registered in these regions.”
• Of deaths involving COVID-19 registered up to Week 16, 77.4% (14,796 deaths) occurred in hospital with the remainder occurring in care homes, private homes and hospices.
• In a separate announcement, the ONS said: “In order to improve the timely availability of data on deaths in care homes caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have agreed to publish provisional counts of deaths in care homes, based on statutory notifications by care home providers to CQC.”
• “Building on successful pilots, we will be rolling out testing of asymptomatic residents and staff in care homes in England, and to patients and staff in the NHS,” Mr Hancock said. All those over 65 and people who must leave home for work will also be able to get a test if they are displaying symptoms.” (BBC News)
• “The Scottish government has recommended people cover their faces while in some enclosed public spaces, such as shops and public transport.” (BBC News)
• “The son of an NHS doctor who died with coronavirus has called on Health Secretary Matt Hancock to say sorry for mistakes in the government’s response. Intisar Chowdhury, 18, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme a public apology would help improve public trust. Intisar’s father Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, 53, warned about a lack of protection before he died.” (BBC News)

International developments:

• Confirmed cases of the virus have passed 3 million (3,083,467), and more than 215,000 people have died (215,063), according to Johns Hopkins University tracker. (915,988 people have recovered).
• Over 5 million tests have been conducted in the USA (5,628,374), finding over 1 million cases of the virus (1,002,498)
• “In a statement marking international safety and health at work day, the [UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) said authorities needed to seek active involvement from and dialogue with employers and workers to ensure people’s safety at work”
• Turkey is the latest country to pass 100,000 confirmed cases. There are now seven such countries. Another four countries (Brazil, China, Iran and Russia) have over 50,000 confirmed cases, and another eight have over 20,000 confirmed cases.
• Portugal: “the third 15-day period of the state of emergency will end at midnight on Saturday and [the President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said:] “we hope it will not be necessary to use it again in the future,” the president told the media. But, he warned, a return to normal activity would proceed “in stages”. (The Guardian)
• Spain: Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, outlined a ““plan for a transition to normality” – “in four phases, each lasting approximately two weeks, without setting a specific date when bars and restaurants can reopen or sporting and other events can resume.” (The Guardian)
• France: “has announced a detailed map for a “progressive and controlled” exit from its strict lockdown from 11 May” (The Guardian)
• Russia: “Vladimir Putin has extended a non-working period” until 11 May (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. The following numbers may be useful: Samaritans: 116 123, Domestic Violence Hotline: 0808 2000 247, Mind: 0300 123 3393, Age UK: 0800 169 6565, Childline: 0800 1111.

Thanks to everyone who helped create this update through our Facebook group. If you submit posts, we will often decline posting them to the discussion directly and instead hold them till the single daily summary – to try to reduce the number of posts in the feed and make it easier for people to follow the information. Please continue to submit posts to admins for this purpose with a flag REQUEST / OFFER / UPDATE / QUESTION