All our help and information for 04/12/2020 is now available in a single place on the SCC website https://www.somerset.gov.uk/coronavirus/covid-19-latest-advice/
This page is refreshed through the day so please check in regularly to keep across developments and news.
Public Health dashboard: Detailed Public Health information dashboards are available on our website www.somerset.gov.uk/coronavirus just scroll down to ‘Covid-19 dashboard’. These are updated daily.
Top stories today:
Covid vaccinations across Somerset
Covid vaccination locations will be set up across Somerset with mobile vaccinators available for those who cannot leave their homes.
Formal announcement of the exact locations of Somerset’s vaccination centres are expected shortly – but will include larger county sites, community locations across Somerset, hospital hubs and via teams of mobile vaccinators for those unable to leave home.
Somerset County Council and health colleagues focus will be on making the vaccine available in a phased way from a number of locations across the county and accessible to people who cannot leave their homes.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has now published its guidance for the priority groups to receive the vaccine. These priority groups include care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and the clinically extremely vulnerable, who will be among the first to receive the vaccination here in Somerset.
Stocks are expected to arrive in the County next week, but delivering the Pfizer vaccine is complex. It needs to be stored at very cold temperatures and moved carefully.
Somerset County Council and the local NHS are working on a plan to deliver the vaccine safely in line with its storage and will share information with you as soon as it becomes available.
For more information about the Pfizer vaccination, please read MHRA’s statement, watch a short Oxford University video about the safety of the vaccine located here or check out Vaccine Knowledge | (ox.ac.uk) – a website which provides independent information about how vaccines are tested, licenced and monitored.
Coronavirus Helpline passes 10,000 calls since start of lockdown
Somerset’s Coronavirus Helpline has received more than 10,000 calls since its launch in April, signposting residents to a huge range of vital support such as emergency food parcels, prescription collections and hospital transport.
Set up by Somerset’s local councils working together with partner organisations such as Mindline, Citizens Advice Bureau and the Community Council for Somerset (CCS) Village Agents, the Coronavirus Helpline has provided a single point of contact for anyone in need of Covid-19 related support over the past eight months and counting.
The Helpline number is 0300 790 6275, and is available seven days a week, from 8am to 6pm including Bank Holidays, offering a range of support from help accessing food and medicines, to emotional and financial support, as well as employment, skills and business advice.
Stay up to date with Clinton Rogers’ weekly Covid Catch Up
Somerset County Council has enlisted the help of former BBC television journalist Clinton Rogers for a new weekly series of informative Covid Catch Up videos.
The former BBC Points West correspondent will front the new series which aims to help people understand how Covid-19 is affecting Somerset, and what we can all be doing to help beat the virus.
The first Covid Catch Up video features Clinton reporting from Taunton on what it means for Somerset as we leave lockdown and enter Tier Two restrictions.
Making a childcare bubble with another household
Childcare bubbles are now allowed in all tiers. A childcare bubble is where one household links with one other household to provide informal childcare to a child or children under 14.
All adults in both households must agree to this arrangement.
You can now change your childcare bubble provided that:
at least one person in the proposed new childcare bubble is under the age of 14
neither household is part of a separate childcare bubble which they intend to remain a part of.
Christmas travel measures
Travel safely this Christmas is the message as the government announced measures to minimise disruption and help people travel in the festive season.
The plan for the Christmas travel window between 23 and 27 December includes lifting roadworks, enhancing rail services, postponing and accelerating rail engineering works and cutting ticket charges. The government is also urging passengers to plan their journeys carefully, consider quieter routes and, where possible, to book ahead.
Travel between different tiers is permitted however, you must stick to the advice of only making journeys for essential reasons, and travel to Tier 3 areas is particularly advised against.
Once you are in another tier, you should stick to the guidance of your own tier if you have come from a higher one, or act under the guidance of the higher tier if you are ‘moving up’ into it.