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 posted in the Stroud Coronavirus Community Response Facebook group
- Senan Clifford let us know about a talking space for men – ‘What is difficult for you as a man in these times?’. Safe Harbour is a facilitated online space which allows men to share how they are doing in a way not often possible, honestly and without shame, and through this to feel deeply connected with other men in the group. www.facebook.com/groups/stroudcorona/permalink/275485613639200
- Amanda Nicholas asks if there are any dog groomers working at all yet? Her little girl needs her claws clipping desperately, if anyone can do it? Please let her know. www.facebook.com/groups/stroudcorona/permalink/275829750271453
- We now have 4,325 members. We welcomed 22 new members this week. We’ve had 1008 posts in the last month, 9 today. 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
- Column by leader of Stroud District Council, Doina Cornell. As well as the toll on our mental and physical health, Coronavirus is impacting massively on our livelihoods too. In the coming months Stroud District Council will work closely on the economic recovery with our partners at the County Council, Local Enterprise Partnership, as well as all our towns, villages and communities. In the meantime, there is support for local businesses, through a new Discretionary Business Grants Scheme that will allocate grants for some of those businesses who were not eligible in the last round of government support. www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/18471770.leaders-column-eligible-businesses-apply-grants
- Conservative MPs are among those calling for Dominic Cummings, adviser to the UK prime minister Boris Johnson, to resign. Cummings is under fire from all ends of the political spectrum after the Guardian reported claims he breached government lockdown guidance on more than one occasion. Boris Johnson says Dominic Cummings acted ‘responsibly, legally and with integrity’
- Eid al-Fitr celebrations are underway across the world but there are concerns that a surge in Covid-19 cases could result. Festivities have been constrained in many places as a result of the pandemic.
- Russia has reported its highest daily Covid-19 death toll. The country recorded 153 coronavirus deaths over most recent 24-hour period measured, its highest daily toll during the pandemic, raising total fatalities to 3,541.
- Sweden has run the least-restrictive lockdown of any developed country but that strategy is coming under fire. Anneka Linde, the predecessor of the country’s state epidemiologist, has told the Observer that tougher measures should have been put in place earlier in the pandemic.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus case in Afghanistan has topped 10,000, while the Taliban has announced a ceasefire over Eid. Concerns are high as, despite the government-mandated lockdown, people continue to break the regulations.
- Potential vaccine hope: First indications of the effectiveness of a potential vaccine against coronavirus may be available in the autumn. That is according to the head of the GAVI vaccine alliance, Seth Berkley, who cautioned in a Swiss newspaper that it would be a long road from there to broad availability.
(All from 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