Friday 19th June 2020

Requests, Offers and Updates posted in our Facebook group

• Please register to join our online public meeting on Monday 22nd June at 8pm: What’s next for Stroud Schools? We have an amazing panel: Joanne Gray – current Executive Headteacher of Severn View Academy in Stroud and Brockworth Primary Academy near Gloucester; Catrina Anne Lowri – who is a SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) at a school in Gloucester; Jo McAndrews – a consultant and trainer with schools and families in the field of relationship based learning and trauma informed education and parenting; Rachel Curley – a District Councillor who also works in a senior role at the National Education Union; Freddie Whittaker – who was born and grew up in Stroud and now works as an education journalist for Schools Week; and Julie Cigman – an Early Years author, consultant and trainer. Please share our Facebook event/invite your friends.
• Please don’t miss our new page on Masks/Face Coverings – guidance around why and how to wear them, and details of local makers and suppliers.
• Stroud District Council recently held a meeting about Strategy and Resources – how they will resource people to get through the covid crisis, how to work on inclusion, what changes do we need to make Stroud resilient into the future, and more. You can watch the meeting on their website via the link above.
• Spaces are available at the drive-through mobile testing unit at Stratford Park Leisure Centre, Stroud for those who need a Covid19 test. Book a test via the NHS website (or 111 for people you know who cannot use this)
• Janis Dyer told us “we went to Stratford Park for Covid 19 testing this morning by appointment. It was very well organised by polite military who were very helpful as the QR code wouldn’t work on my phone. With this delay the process for both of us only took 20 minutes” (she also updated us later to let us know both tests were negative). If you are comfortable doing so, please do tell us about experiences like this in the Facebook group – it helps others locally understand the process involved and ask any questions if they have them.
• Wotton Area Mutual Aid shared their “first official WAMA poster, designed and made by a local Beaver Scout working towards his Community Impact badge!”. We asked “Which other mutual aid or neighbour network groups have posters? Share them below or with your own post – we’d love to see them”.
• “WAMA – Wotton Area Mutual Aid – is here to help you http://wottonareamutualaid.co.uk tel 07545 042794 manned 9-6 but takes messages 24 hours – or email wottonareamutualaid@gmail.com”. WAMA are also now on twitter (as is Stroud Coronavirus Community Response)
• The “Stroud Is Open” Directory will tell you which businesses offer this, in addition to those who are delivering too.
• Stroud Farmers Market is returning – Gerb shared details of stall holders to be present and virus precautions – adding that while the aim is “to make the whole market area safe for everyone”, the pre order and collect (or home delivery) scheme is being continued “for those who are vulnerable, shielding or isolating”.
• Natalie Davies told us that Star Anise is offering an expanded service. See the link for full details.
• Wendy Thomson shared that the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is running “series of online events to help you deal with your current and future challenges of ‘getting back to business’ post lockdown”. You can book via the post she shared, linked above.
• Sarah Dixon shared details of government “Support available for the self employed affected by loss of earnings due to having children.”
• Hannah Basson shared ‘Every Rainbow Drawn’ – an original song written and performed by young people across Gloucestershire. It’s a way of saying ‘thank you’ to doctors, nurses, supermarket workers and teachers – and to raise money for the NHS.
• Stroud Town Council and Wild Stroud offer a virtual walk in the Bisley Road Cemetery Nature Reserve.
• Helen Bojaniwska shared a BBC News article on a new peer-reviewed research report on conspiracy theories.
• Jane Edmonds shared a a short film made by the Gloucestershire based The Good Grief Project for LONELINESS AWARENESS WEEK (15 – 21 June 2020). She said: “as the days and weeks turn into months keep checking in on neighbours and friends who are still in ‘lockdown’ and let them know you care.” The film is made from the photos of people who are grieving in one way or another.
• Rose Harwood shared a website featuring “Coronavirus easy read information”, including – but not limited to – cards to identify someone as exempt from the requirement to wear a mask on public transport.
• Good On Paper shared information about their “Subscribers Special” – a guide/celebration of Stroud Lockdown projects (it includes our group and many wonderful local projects)
• The Door Youth Project are reopening their charity shop soon but we need help: “We need more volunteers than normal to help manage donations, run the till and keep customers safe. Could you spare half a day a week to help out? Apply today at http://thedoor.org.uk/volunteer“
• We’d really like more moderators and admins for our Facebook group and website. Current moderators can help you understand your role and support you in working with the technology. Please get in touch: stroudcommunitycoronaresponse@gmail.com.
• We now have 4,327 members with 13 joined in the last week!  We’ve dealt with 900 posts in the last month. 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 main summary of local, national and international statistical data on a weekly basis rather than daily. Wednesday’s summary included analysis of the numbers of people who have died in different areas around the Stroud district.

Local

• “There have been no further coronavirus cases or hospital deaths recorded in Gloucestershire in the last 24 hours, according to figures released today (June 19).” (Gloucestershire Live). We think this is the 11th day in a row where no-one has died.
• Gloucestershire Live posted about “What a Gloucestershire secondary school looks like now pupils have returned” (looking at Cleeve School and Sixth Form Centre of Excellence, in Bishop’s Cleeve as an example)
• “People in Gloucestershire will have to wait another fortnight before they can visit loved ones or beauty spots in Wales more than five miles from English border  – but they may be able to go on holiday there next month.” (Gloucestershire Live)
• “Stroud has seen the biggest increase in people claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance during lockdown of anywhere in the UK. There was a 332.8 per cent rise in claimants during May compared with the pre-lockdown level in February. This is a year-on-year rise of 284.7 per cent. In total there were 277 claimants last month” (Stroud News and Journal)

National 

• The UK has lowered the “Covid-19 alert level to ‘epidemic’ from ‘exponential‘” (Reuters)
• “English COVID-19 R number falls to 0.7-0.9, in line with UK” (Reuters)
• “The mobile phone contact-tracing app to tell people they may have been exposed to Covid-19… will not be ready before the winter, a health minister has said. Lord Bethell of Romford, the minister responsible for the smartphone app, said that it was not a priority for the government at the moment. (The Guardian). BBC News reported that the “UK virus-tracing app switches to Apple-Google model“.
• Public Health England published “A summary of stakeholder insights into factors affecting the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.” It concludes: “The clear message from stakeholders was the requirement for tangible actions, provided at scale and pace, with a commitment to address the underlying factors of inequality.”
• The Government is extending its free school meal voucher scheme through a £120 million Covid Summer Food Fund, Downing Street said, following a campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford.
• Which? published a useful article: NHS COVID-19 contact tracing message: how can I tell if it’s real or a scam?
• The Covid Symptoms app has a survey open for people to contribute, if you have experienced unusual skin symptoms such as rashes.

International

• “A $2bn (£1.5bn) fund aimed at ensuring that poorer countries can access doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine has been unveiled at a virtual summit hosted by the UK.” (Guardian)
• “The World Health Organization’s director for Africa has said current statistics for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the continent are broadly accurate, amid concerns that low levels of testing, poor infrastructure and a lack of cooperation from some governments may be disguising the true extent of the disease’s spread. There are currently 162,622 confirmed cases in Africa, with 4,604 deaths.” (Guardian)
• “Iran has seen a rapid surge in the numbers of coronavirus cases in recent weeks, sparking fears it might be facing a second wave of the pandemic.” (BBC News)
• “For a full international roundup, see the Reuters Coronavirus page, or The Guardian’s “summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak”. For updates on confirmed cases, and deaths, we recommend the Financial Times’ “Coronavirus tracked: the latest figures as countries fight to contain the pandemic” webpage – which is updated daily. As UK lockdown eases, you may be particularly interested in their piece “Exiting lockdowns: tracking governments’ changing coronavirus responses“.

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 the appropriate flag: one of REQUEST / OFFER / UPDATE / QUESTION / COMMENTARY.