All our help and information 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:
Somerset COVID-19 vaccination programme expands
More people in the high priority groups in Somerset are being invited to have their COVID-19 vaccinations this week as two more sites are launched in the county.
Please don’t contact the NHS or visit any of the sites to ask about your vaccine, you will be contacted.
Vaccinations are beginning this week at a further GP-led community site and in a new hospital hub at Musgrove Park Hospital. Vaccinations are now being offered at 12 sites across the county – at ten GP-led community sites and at hospital hubs at both Musgrove Park Hospital and at Yeovil District Hospital – and teams of vaccinators are also vaccinating care home residents.
The Somerset programme is offering vaccinations to people in the high priority groups identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation – care home residents and their carers, those aged 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers.
Clinicians are now vaccinating people from the new GP-led site; The Meadows Surgery in Ilminster which is part of the CLICK Primary Care Network that includes seven local GP surgeries.
This weekend vaccinations begin at Musgrove Park Hospital which will operate a vaccination hub seven days a week from next week.
Both the Pfizer Biotech and the newly approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines will be given in Somerset.
People are asked to support the NHS:
- by not contacting GPs and health services about vaccinations. You will be contacted when it is your turn to be invited for your vaccination. Some telephone lines are jammed with people asking about vaccinations and this is preventing people who need help from getting through.
- When contacted, please attend your booked appointments;
- And please continue to follow all the guidance to control the spread of the virus and save lives.
Be aware of fake texts offering Covid-19 vaccine
Trading Standards is warning the public to be on their guard following reports that fraudsters are sending out fake texts offering a Covid-19 vaccine in an attempt to steal bank details.
The text offers a link to what police call an “extremely convincing” fake NHS website. Once on the website people are asked to input their bank details to register for a vaccine.
Tune into BBC for home schooling
The BBC is helping children keep up with their studies during the latest lockdown, by broadcasting lessons on BBC Two and CBBC, as well as online.
The curriculum-based programmes will start being aired on BBC TV from Monday 11 January. They will include three hours of primary school programming every weekday on CBBC, and at least two hours for secondary pupils on BBC Two.
During the first lockdown, lessons were available in iPlayer, red button and online, but not on regular TV channels.
Clinton’s Covid catch-up
In the latest Somerset Covid Catch Up film, former BBC Points West producer Clinton Rogers interviews Somerset County Council’s Director of Public Health to find out more about the current lockdown and what the situation is in Somerset. Click here to view: Somerset Covid Catch-up Week 5 – 6 January 2021 – YouTube
Minds really do matter
As we adjust again to staying at home more, and minimising our contacts outside the home, it’s important that we remember to take care of our minds as well as our bodies.
Every Mind Matters has some helpful information online to support us through this time, whether that’s concerns about finances, or making sure that you or others have the support you need, or staying connected with others.
Exercising safely while outdoors
Everyone must stay at home as much as possible in lockdown. But being outside is also so important for physical and mental wellbeing.
Ordnance Survey has launched a useful guide on getting outside safely, and it has been updated in line with lockdown rules.
The outdoors is still open, and everyone is encouraged to get outside and stay local to enhance physical and mental health.
Just type in the location – Somerset for example – and choose what outdoor activity that is of interest, such as walking. The guide provides the latest advice for walking in Somerset – what’s permitted, what’s not, and helpful suggestions along the way.
The key is in knowing how to minimise risk to yourself and others when outside. Remember, outdoor exercise is allowed, but choose less busy places to go, and follow the guidance – social distancing, wear a face covering in enclosed spaces, and wash hands well as soon when back indoors.