With so much information going around it's hard to know what to do for the best for everyone as we come out of the pandemic.
Like every organisation LIHH wants to do the best for our service users, staff, volunteers, funders and the community by opening up our services to full capacity once again. But we have to be cautious as the situation changes constantly.
So we are continuing to follow Public Health advice in Leeds who have shared the following message with us:
"We are aware that as restrictions have lifted and many people are returning to activities, events and socialising more, we are seeing an increase in COVID-19 infections in people over the age of 60. The reasons for this are complex, whilst the Covid vaccine is very effective at preventing deaths from COVID-19, the vaccine does not provide 100% protection from becoming infected so it is really important that people over the age of 60 and those with a long term condition continue to take precautions to keep safe from infection.
We know that people over 60 and those with long term conditions are more likely to become seriously ill and end up in hospital if they contract COVID-19, we therefore need to ensure we are all working to protect and minimise harm for those most at risk.
In addition to all of the key messages you are sharing and support you are providing, we are emailing to ask for two further actions to be taken where possible;
Request that everyone checks in to your venues, activities and events.
Although it is no longer a legal duty for venues to ask customers to check in, we strongly encourage you to do so. If multiple people who visited a venue on a given day are confirmed to have had COVID-19, NHS Test and Trace will contact the venue to request their logbooks of customer, visitor and staff contact details and, where these are available, venue alerts will be issued to those who checked in.
Venue alerts do not advise individuals to self-isolate, rather they advise them to get a test.
If individuals checked in with the app, they receive this as an app notification, and those who provided their contact details will receive the venue alert by text message. We encourage all venues to continue with their check-in systems and to continue to display official NHS QR code posters so that we can notify people who may have been exposed to COVID-19. This can help break the transmission chain and protect vulnerable, older people from contracting the virus.
Lead by example and wear a mask, maintain social distancing where possible and continue to wash hands
The government are encouraging people to make their own informed decisions about wearing a mask, social distancing, socialising outdoors and hand washing. However we know that we are heavily influenced by those around us and the social norms that we see. We are therefore encouraging you as professionals, your staff and the volunteers supporting your activities and organisations to wear a mask and continue to take preventative measures including ensuring that venues are well ventilated, encouraging others to do so where possible. Encouraging others to continue to wear a mask when indoors, when around others and when they wish to whilst feeling confident and comfortable can help us reduce the spread of the virus.
LIHH will aim to follow the advice of Public Health where we can in order to keep everyone safe so please bear with us and do not be offended if we ask you to wear your masks or wash your hands more frequently. We just want to look after each other to get everyone out of this situation safely.
And then hopefully we'll be back with the craic in no time at all.
If you need to contact us for any further information please call 0113 262 5614 or email us.
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