A BBQ in the garden, a trip to the park, a game of football or a woodland walk - whatever you're doing, do it safely.
Help keep us all heading in the right direction out of the pandemic. We need to find a balance between seeing our families, friends and loved ones and keeping our distance, even if you have had the vaccine.
Seeing friends and family safely
If you're inviting people into your garden this weekend, here are a few things to bear in mind:
- Stick to outdoor meetings of up to six people, or one other household can join you.
- Keep your distance - even outside, where the virus disperses more easily, you should stay 2m apart. No hugs just yet!
- Be prepared for changes in weather - have jackets or blankets on hand to keep cosy even though you're staying outside.
- If you need to go through the house to get to the garden, cover your face and don't touch surfaces.
- People can use the bathroom - but make sure the route through is well ventilated, and wash your hands for at least 20 seconds to kill the virus.
Our open spaces - including our beautiful seafront - are there for everyone.
You have an important role to play in keeping them safe:
- Walk or cycle where you can. If you have to drive, park considerately.
- If you're using one of the rental e-scooters, never ride with more than one person on the e-scooter and don't use pavements that are solely for walking
- If you are visiting the seafront and you're able to, why not go for a walk on the beach rather than the prom. This will give space for those less able.
- If it feels too busy on parts of your route wear a face covering outside. Alternatively come back another time.
- Take your rubbish home with you, or use one of the bins available. If a bin is full, tell us using the 'Report an overflowing bin' form on our website
If you're worried about a serious breach of coronavirus regulations, like a large gathering, or a business that might not have the right safety measures in place you can let us or the police know via our website and we'll look into it. Our enforcement teams and police partners are out and about all weekend.
Testing centres will still be open this bank holiday.
If you have symptoms
If you develop symptoms - no matter how mild - book a free coronavirus test online or call 119.
The symptoms you need to look out for are:
- a new continuous cough
- a temperature
- a loss of or change to your sense of smell or taste.
It is against the law if you don't self-isolate when you're supposed to and you could face fines. When you're self-isolating you mustn't leave home - even to shop for essentials or exercise, although you can get a coronavirus test or seek urgent medical care. It's hard but help is available locally if you need financial, practical or emotional support while you're self-isolating.
Testing at home
If you have children in your household or support bubble, keep taking your twice weekly coronavirus asymptomatic tests (for those with no symptoms) over the bank holiday and break from school.
This will help to manage the spread of the virus to protect you, your family and your community, so that children are ready to learn again after the break.
Your child's school will supply sufficient test kits for them. Household members can find out where to get their test kits online.
Getting tested if you don't have symptoms
If you're over 18, need to leave home regularly and aren't covered by an existing workplace testing programme, you can get tested even though you don't have symptoms.
Around one in three people who are infected with coronavirus have no symptoms so could be spreading the disease without knowing it.
Regular asymptomatic testing means those who test positive for the virus but with no symptoms will know to self-isolate straight away to help stop the spread.
More than 93,000 local people have now received at least one dose of the life-saving coronavirus vaccine.
The progress of the vaccine programme is one of the things the government will look at as they decide whether to move to the next step on the roadmap. The vaccine is safe and effective, and we're encouraging everyone to get vaccinated when it's their turn.
We don't yet know for certain what impact the vaccine has on the spread of coronavirus. You should continue to use asymptomatic community testing if you need to leave home regularly or if you're an adult living with or in a support bubble with children at nursery, school or college. You should also self-isolate and ask for a test if you develop any symptoms of coronavirus, no matter how mild.
The NHS will still be working hard to care for and treat people over this Easter holiday weekend.
If you have a minor injury or illness, don’t just turn up at the emergency department – it's important to keep it free for emergencies and to maintain social distancing. Please use alternatives like your local pharmacy or the nearest urgent care centre. If you're not sure, go to 111.nhs.uk or call 111 if you can’t get online.
Pharmacies may have different opening times over bank holidays - Easter opening hours for Portsmouth pharmacies are available online.
We're sending this email to everyone who is subscribed to My Portsmouth Updates. We don't do this very often, but we want to get these messages out to as many people as possible. If you know people who will find this information valuable, please send it on to them and encourage them to sign up for updates themselves.
You can update your preferences at any time.
|
