At Hackney CVS our priority is the health and wellbeing of our members, colleagues, residents and staff. We are keeping a very close watch on the latest health guidelines in order to protect ourselves and the people in our community and especially the more vulnerable – such as people with underlying health conditions and the elderly. The following information is provided so that you know about the symptoms of the virus and provides details of some common sense measures you can take.

Symptoms

The symptoms of coronavirus are:

• A cough
• A high temperature
• Shortness of breath

These symptoms do not necessarily mean you have the illness, and are similar to other illnesses that are much more common, such as cold and flu. The virus can cause more severe symptoms in people with weakened immune systems, older people, and those with long-term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease. The good news is that viruses like Coronavirus cannot live outside the body for long.

What you should do

• 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
• wash your hands carefully with soap and water, often
• watch this hand washing video from the NHS
• try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell
• do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean
• clean your telephone handset after use if you share a phone with anyone else
• stay away from work if you have any of the symptoms – this is common sense with any illness, and many of us can work remotely, so please take this precaution as necessary.

What we have done at Hackney CVS

• provided hand soap in the kitchens and toilets
• set up cleaning schedules to clean door handles, taps, handles of kitchen appliances and other commonly-touched surfaces (like the computers in the Resources Area) on a regular basis (twice a day)
• encouraged staff to work from home if they are unwell, and particularly if they have any of the symptoms of Coronavirus
• provided hand washing diagrams in the toilets & kitchens
• provided tissues at Reception
• I couldn’t find any sanitising gel but have provided ‘cleansing surface wipes’ behind Reception to keep the signing-in pen & Reception surface clean

Official government advice today is:

Stay indoors and avoid contact with other people if you’ve travelled to the UK from the following places in the last 14 days, even if you do not have symptoms:

• Iran
• Hubei province in China
• lockdown areas in northern Italy
• special care zones in South Korea

Stay indoors and avoid contact with other people if you’ve travelled to the UK from the following places in the last 14 days and have a cough, high temperature or shortness of breath, even if your symptoms are mild:

• mainland China outside of Hubei province
• Italy outside of the lockdown areas
• South Korea outside of the special care zones
• Cambodia
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• Laos
• Macau
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

If you think you have symptoms or have travelled to one of the high-risk areas, use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do next. Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

This advice is updated daily, so please see here if you have any specific questions.

Currently Hackney CVS is open for business as usual and all events are taking place as scheduled. However, we will follow government advice and if we need to postpone any events we will be in touch again.