Covid-19 News - 27 November

West Berkshire Council sent this bulletin at 27-11-2020 05:35 PM GMT

West Berkshire in 'High Alert' tier level from 2 December

West Berkshire, along with our neighbouring Local Authorities will be placed into the Tier 2 “High Alert” restrictions category on Wednesday, 2 December. Until this date, the National Restrictions remain in force.

The "High Alert" tier prohibits the mixing of households indoors, apart from support bubbles, but does allow up to 6 people from different households to meet outdoors.

In addition, under the High Alert tier:

Shops, gyms and personal care services (such as hairdressers) will all reopen.
Pubs and bars must close, unless they are operating as restaurants. Hospitality venues can only serve alcohol with substantial meals. Last orders will be taken at 10pm, and venues must close by 11pm.

People should minimise travel and work from home where possible. Please note that you should not travel into a Tier 3 “Very high” area unless where necessary such as for work or education.

Schools, colleges, university and early years settings will be open.

See the Tier 2 High Alert poster for more details.

You can read our full announcement here.

We know this government update comes as a frustration for a lot of us but it is more important than ever that we play our individual parts to keep cases down locally and stop the spread of the virus by following the rules. Nationally the tiers will be first reviewed on 16 December.

Play your part in keeping West Berkshire open

Travel advice for University students heading back home for Christmas

From next Thursday, 3 December, the “Student Travel Window” opens and continues until 9 December. During this time students will be able to travel home from universities if they wish to, regardless of regional tier restrictions.

Each university and higher education setting has been asked to produce plans in order to support the Student Travel Window, such as moving to online learning by 9 December and staggering departure times.

On Tuesday the government announced that Admin fees for students rearranging train tickets have been waived during the Student Travel Window.

See full guidance on the end of term arrangements.

We want to wish all students returning to West Berkshire at this time a safe and smooth journey.

Covid-19: local cases data

Covid-19 cases are updated daily on the Covid-19 Dashboard with Public Health Berkshire to provide residents with local coronavirus data, Covid-19 guidance and information on the current national restrictions. Information on the number of Covid-19 cases in your local area can be found by inputting your postcode on the interactive map.

Separately, you can also view the local Covid-19 middle super outbreak area data from within West Berkshire.

Making a Christmas Bubble with friends and family

Although the country is going back to a regional tiered system from 2 December, an agreement has been reached across the UK for an easing of restrictions over the Christmas period.

In England from 23 – 27 December you can form an exclusive “Christmas Bubble” composed of people from no more than three households.

You will be able to travel between tiers at this time and those in a Christmas Bubble will be able to meet in private homes together.

A “Christmas Bubble” however is exclusive, which means that you cannot be in more than one Christmas Bubble and you cannot change your bubble during this time period. It is also recommended that you take care to limit your contact with others before forming your bubble and after this time period ends.

Read full guidance on Christmas arrangements and how to form a bubble if you are clinically extremely vulnerable.

If you are thinking of forming a Christmas Bubble and meeting indoors, please take steps to keep yourselves as safe as possible by ensuring indoor spaces get as much fresh air as possible, washing your hands regularly and for 20 seconds, and ensuring regular cleaning of surfaces.

COVID Winter Grant Scheme

We are launching a new COVID Winter Grant Scheme to help pay for food, utility bills, and essential supplies between December and March next year for those in need due to the pandemic. We have made £532k funds available from government aid to support people in COVID related hardship in West Berkshire over the winter period.

As part of the Scheme we will also be making Free School Meal vouchers available for eligible 5 to 16 year olds during the Christmas and February school holidays (17 days in total).

Those who currently have support from professionals such as social and care workers will be encouraged to work with their provider to make an application. In addition, individuals can make an online application independently on the coronavirus financial support page from 1 December, when the scheme formally launches.

From that time, any individuals who may need assistance on how to fill out the online application, or those without internet access, are welcome to contact the Community Support Hub on tel: 01635 503579 or by email: westberksbct@westberks.gov.uk. The Community Support Hub is open during office hours between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Thursday, or between 8.30am and 4.30pm on Friday.

Coronavirus Weeknotes #38

In this week’s update from the Leader and Chief Executive they reflect on the new restrictions coming next week, and plans for Christmas.

You can read their blog here, or adjust your subscription preferences to receive it direct to your inbox each week.

Christmas cards for Care Homes

This year has been challenging for us all, but none more so than the residents and staff of our West Berkshire Council Care Homes. We have worked hard during the pandemic to ensure our care home residents have remained connected with relatives and friends.

During the first lockdown, residents were delighted to receive cards, letters and drawings from local school children, which brought smiles to the faces of both the residents receiving them and to staff working so hard to look after them.

This Christmas, we would like to put a smile on their faces once more and we are encouraging residents to send cards, letters or drawings to our care homes once again.

To get involved, simply write a card (letters and drawings included if you wish) and post it to one of our four care homes.

Touch lives locally by Christmas giving

We have launched our Community Santa Christmas giving campaign where communities can identify people who are suffering increased hardship due to Covid and nominate them to receive a gift.

Due to pandemic restrictions, this is being done digitally this year and we’re asking people to choose a gift recipient via our Community Santa page.

Newbury Baptist Church has kindly donated to our campaign. Watch this video of Baptist Church Minister, Richard Littledale speaking about the joy of giving and focusing on what we can do to touch lives locally.

In order to arrange delivery by Christmas, please choose your gifts before the scheme closes on Monday, 7 December. Donate to Community Santa.

Leaflet distribution

You should start receiving through your letterbox our latest COVID-19 leaflet, which contains details of our continued local response to the pandemic and support available to any residents experiencing challenges at this time.

It also discusses the national restrictions and links to government guidance as well as introducing our local contact tracing system for COVID-19.

If you have received this leaflet already, we are encouraging you to take the time to carefully read the information available.

Please note that information in the leaflet about the different tiers was correct at the time of posting. Since then these tiers have changed and residents are asked to follow the amended tiered restrictions as set out here.