Sign up to email newsletters

Coronavirus update - 14 October

Stoke-on-Trent City Council sent this bulletin at 14-10-2020 08:38 PM BST

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

This is intended to keep you updated on the latest developments linked to Covid-19. The bulletin includes information on:

Care support team response to Covid-19
The new tier system and what this means for Stoke-on-Trent
Culture Recovery Fund allocation
Because you care, please don't car share
Eight days left to enter competition to win a limited edition face covering
Test and trace support payments
£19,200 food and essential supplies funding available for organisations
Testing at Fenton Manor
Stoptober

Care support team response to Covid-19

A cross-agency support team set up in April 2020 to respond to Covid-19 has now helped 104 care homes in Stoke-on-Trent.

Through their work, the care home team, which is made up of experts from Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Combined Healthcare and University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, has supported over 2000 care home residents in the city.

The team was put in place with the aim of providing additional support to care homes to help limit the spread of coronavirus within care homes across the city, following concerns about the number of suspected cases, confirmed cases and deaths in care homes nationally. It also came ahead of any specific guidance set out by government in this area.

Due to the city seeing a significant spike in the numbers of staff testing positive, the team has now been going back out to support care homes as well as providers who are delivering care in Supported Living Schemes. It started working in this way again last month.

By joining with partners and focusing on prevention, we’ve been able to provide a range of expertise ranging from social care, deep cleaning, infection control and logistics to ‘buddying’ for registered managers. The care home team has covered everything from advising management teams on how to effectively use the space they have to minimise the spread of the disease to providing mental health support for those in isolation given the huge challenges being faced.

The new tier system and what this means for Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent has been classed as Tier One: Medium after a new three tier system of Covid-19 restrictions was announced on Monday by the government. The three tiers of medium, high and very high will see restrictions tighten with each tier.

As Stoke-on-Trent is in the medium tier, this means no extra city-wide restrictions are in place. However, case numbers are rising in the city, and we could move into another tier within days. Our seven day rate is rising, and there have been 93 cases out of 100,000 people in the last week - the West Midlands average is 120 and England is 150. Hospital admissions and death rates in the city are also rising.

We all need to play our part to avoid going into the next tier, whereby the impact will be even more significant in our day to day lives. Below is more information on the national guidance and how we can avoid escalation to the next tier, keep Stoke-on-Trent open and play our part to kick coronavirus out of the city.

Reducing household transmission

One of the main ways we can try reduce the spread of coronavirus is by reducing cases spread by household transmission – that is between households. The principle of the tiers is as city's progress higher, we shouldn’t be mixing households - if we mix households groups then we will continue to increase the transmission of coronavirus, and it will become more likely we'll move into the next tier.

We know that transmission is more likely to occur indoors than outdoors, residents are reminded:

consider wearing a face covering when in shared spaces
stay 2m apart
wash your hands with soap and water often, for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards
clean objects and surfaces you touch often (such as door handles, kettles and phones) using your regular cleaning products
keep windows open in the room you're staying in and shared spaces as much as possible
Stick to the rule of six
Limit the number of households that you’re mixing with

If we go into the next tier, household contact is one of the areas that will be affected.

The national guidance for the medium tier includes:

Good hygiene and social distancing: Wash your hands regularly and keep your 2m distance.

Meeting with friends and family: Limit your contact. If you do need to meet up, limit this to no more than six from multiple households. There are exceptions, for example if your household or support bubble is larger than six.

Going to work: You should work at home if possible.

Education: Schools, nurseries and universities are open.

Leisure: Pubs, bars and restaurants must close at 10pm.

Face coverings: Must be worn in shops and on public transport.

Test and Trace: You must stay in and book a test at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus if you have symptoms. If positive you must stay in for 10 days. Anybody who you have been in close contact with must self-isolate for 14 days.

Click here to find out more about the measures included in each tier.

Culture Recovery Fund allocation

Cultural organisations in our area have received more than £790,000 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

The organisations that received funding are:

New Vic Theatre - £248,990
Mitchell Memorial Youth Arts - £78,000
BCB, British Ceramics Biennial (Clay Foundation) - £80,000
Beaver Arts Limited (B arts) - £80,000
Valcato Entertainment £65,000
Velico Limited (The Sugarmill) £240,000

That's a total of £791,990 for cultural organisations in the area. The Government says the national funding, administered by Arts Council England, is a boost for theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations which will protect the sites, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery.

Fiona Wallace, managing director at New Vic Theatre, said: "It’s great to see this much-needed investment coming into our area. We have such a rich arts and cultural sector here and this funding will be vital in ensuring that local people don’t lose access to this and the positive difference it can make. Culture and the arts have always played an important role for communities in North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent but will be needed more than ever as we cope with the health and well-being impacts of COVID-19."

Further rounds of funding in the cultural and heritage sector are due to be announced over the coming weeks.

For more information, please click here.

Because you care, please don't car share

Data analysis has helped us to identify car sharing as a major transmission route of Covid-19 across the city especially associated with larger employers.

If you're travelling to and from work, you should try not to share a vehicle with those outside your household or support bubble.

If you do need to car share, you should try to:

share the transport with the same people each time
keep to small groups of up to a maximum of six people at any one time
open windows for ventilation
travel side by side or behind other people, rather than facing them, where seating arrangements allow
face away from each other
consider seating arrangements to maximise distance between people in the vehicle
clean your car between journeys using standard cleaning products - make sure you clean door handles and other areas that people may touch
ask the driver and passengers to wear a face covering
when finishing your journey wash your hands for at least 20 seconds or sanitise your hands as soon as possible

You can read the Government's coronavirus safer travel easy read guidance here.

Eight days left to enter competition to win a limited edition face covering

From patterned and funny face coverings to just simply plain and practical, residents across the city have adapted to wearing face coverings over the past few months.

Across social media platforms we are inviting residents to share their selfies wearing their favourite face coverings using the hashtag #LetskickcoronavirusoutofStokeonTrent and will be posting selfies of local, influential figures wearing face coverings.

Residents can still win one of 10 limited edition ‘Cost kick coronavirus out of Stoke-on-Trent’ face coverings designed by Megan Rose Design, who specialise in Stoke-on-Trent themed designs, by sharing their selfies online. Residents can enter the social media competition by tagging the city council in their face covering selfies on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and by using the hashtag #LetskickcoronavirusoutofStokeonTrent. Please do get involved. The competition will run from until Thursday, October 22. The winners will be picked at random and announced on Friday, October 23.

Last month, we teamed up with Megan Rose Design to develop a limited edition ‘Cost kick coronavirus out of Stoke-on-Trent’ Stokie themed face covering that were available for residents to purchase. By popular demand, limited edition face coverings with the same design and the message ‘Hands, Face, Space’ were also made available to purchase at www.meganrosedesign.co.uk.

Test and trace support payments

Stoke-on-Trent residents are now entitled to a Test and Trace support payment of £500 if they:

Have been told to stay at home and to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, either because they have tested positive for coronavirus or have recently been in close contact with someone who has tested positive
Are employed or self-employed
Are unable to work from home and will lose income as a result
Are currently receiving Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, Income Based Employment and Support Allowance, Income based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Housing Benefit and/or Pension Credit.

The application for payments is now live and can be found on our website. Click here to go to the application form and for more information. Payments will be backdated to Monday, September 28 for eligible claims.

£19,200 food and essential supplies funding available for organisations

£19,200 is available to local organisations to provide food and essential supplies to help people affected by coronavirus Stoke-on-Trent City Council has received this funding from the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

Not-for-profit organisations which are supporting residents in Stoke-on-Trent who are struggling due to the pandemic can apply for up to £3,000.

Funding can be used to:

purchase food and essential supplies
pay for support costs associated with storage, delivery and preparation of food and essential supplies.
pay for costs associated with providing additional advice and support to households affected by coronavirus.

Organisations which apply will need to have:

A constitution & bank account which are in the name of the organisation.
Public Liability Insurance.
A risk assessment for the organisations proposed activity.

The deadline for applications is Friday, 27 November. For more information and to request an application form, please email communities@stoke.gov.uk or telephone 01782 233265.

Testing at Fenton Manor

The walk-through testing site opened at Fenton Manor car park yesterday and is open between 8am and 8pm seven days a week.

Tests should be booked at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or by phoning 119.

We have been working with the Government and other partners to offer more testing across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to help residents with symptoms stay safe and to be able to get back to work or school as quickly as possible if they test negative.

This is the fifth Local Testing Site to open its doors in the county, with the others in Cannock, Burton, Newcastle and on the Keele University campus. Alongside the current regional testing site at Stoke City FC South Car Park this will give us a greatly enhanced testing capacity for the city and for other parts of North Staffordshire. The national testing facility at Fenton will support Staffordshire University and the south of the city particularly but will be open to all residents.

Please make sure that if you have symptoms of Covid-19, you get tested as soon as possible.

Please be re-assured that the testing centre at Fenton Manor is located in a separate part of the building to the leisure centre and safety measures have been implemented to protect leisure services users and staff.

Stoptober - stop smoking support

Anytime is a good time to quit smoking – not just for Stoptober. Smoking has been known to make the impact of coronavirus worse, and so if you want to give it up, now is the time to do it. You are four times more likely to quit smoking with the support of a stop smoking service.

Our local stop smoking support service offers free help and support over video or telephone. For more information and to access support, visit the Living Well Hub by clicking here or call 0800 085 0928.