Today’s update includes:
- Requests & Offers from the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response team & beyond
- Summary of key local, national and international news
Requests, Offers and Updates
- We shared a video of Sarah Scott, Director of Public Health, who gives an update on Covid-19 cases in Gloucestershire.
- Clay Sinclair started a great conversation aksing the questions “is there a way of knowing the amount of new infections in Stroud? London recorded no new infections the other day. Is Stroud close to this?”
- The most useful answer is that “The government has provided figures showing how many cases have been reported daily in every upper tier local authority in England (county councils, unitary authorities, London and metropolitan boroughs).” Sky News have collated this data on a webpage, where you can use a filter “to find out how many new cases have been confirmed in each local authority in England every day” (this allows us some insight into cases in Gloucestershire, if not Stroud District)
- Rachel Fairburn wants us to know about and to support local sewers making scrubs and laundry bags: “Volunteers in Dursley and wider Gloucestershire are making a real impact on providing essential PPE to the NHS and Social Care Workers..your help to support this project would be greatly appreciated”
- Sarah Phaedra Wilson Asks is to take a short survey about what Stroud needs from The Subs next? “Nearly 700 people have taken The Subscription Rooms short survey – please take 10 minutes to fill it in? Some of the ideas and feedback they’ve had has been so helpful – THANK YOU!”
- Rowan Schofield wants to reach out to the lady she said she would make headbands for. Rowan can’t find her name! She says please don’t hang on waiting for her as she’s oversubscribed. (We’re grateful for her fabulous work!)
- Reminding you that the Gloucestershire Covid-19 testing site at Oxstalls Tennis Centre in Gloucester has been extended to run until the end of Tuesday 26 May (the dates exclude Saturday 23 May and Sunday 24 May) “Everyone aged five and over who is showing coronavirus symptoms is now eligible for a swab test to find out if they have the virus. People can register for a test at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus, after checking their symptoms. Those in England and Wales who do not have access to the internet, or who have difficulty with the digital portals, will be able to ring a new 119 service to book their test.”
- You may know that we are making a directory of local businesses? If you are looking for entertainers, we list local providers in our online directory. You can check it out for a quick route to get the services you need. If you are a local service provider you can add your biz to the directory.
- We now have 4,326 members. We welcomed 26 new members this week. Please invite your friends to grow this community. And please do introduce yourself and let us know anything you’d like to see in the group related to coronavirus and how we can work together to get through the pandemic and its impacts.
- Please take a look at the Group Purpose and Guidelines if you haven’t read them recently.
Summary of key local, national and international news
We are now providing our summary of local, national and international statistical data on a weekly basis rather than daily
- The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over, after 106,000 new cases were recorded worldwide over the past 24 hours – the most in a single day so far. The WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the virus was spreading in poorer countries, just as wealthier nations were emerging from lockdown. (BBC News)
- Apple launches Covid-19 contact tracing in latest iOS update. “iOS 13.5, which includes support for the Exposure Notification API that it co-created with Google to support public health authorities in their contact-tracing efforts to combat COVID-19. The API requires third-party apps developed by public health authorities for use, and none have yet been released, but iOS device users already have access to COVID-19 Exposure Logging global settings.” (TechCrunch)
- “1 in 5 American workers has filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March” (CNN)
- “East Africa is facing a “triple menace” of mutually exacerbating disasters, as ongoing heavy rain hampers attempts to deal with swarms of locusts in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, the Red Cross says.” (The Guardian)
- “Bangladesh has reported its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases, as it begins cleaning up after the fiercest cyclone to hit the country since 1999. 1,773 more people tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 28,511.” (The Guardian)
- “Afghanistan’s health ministry said it has run out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients in most parts of the war-torn country, as the capital Kabul recorded its second worst day of the crisis.” (The Guardian)
- “Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first coronavirus cases were recorded, bans eating wild animals. According to the Wuhan municipal government it is now prohibited to eat, hunt or breed wild animals, including terrestrial animals deemed as protected, as well as those that exist in the wild or are bred” (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