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Coronavirus update from Somerset County Council – 05/02

Posted on 10th February, 2021 in News

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:

Food support for families in February half-term

Somerset County Council is continuing to provide food support for families during the upcoming February half-term.

The Council has used funding from the Winter Covid Grant Scheme to ensure families with children eligible for Free School Meals will receive food or vouchers during the holiday and has asked schools to help deliver this targeted food support.

Somerset County Council has also provided additional funding so that more families and children needing support over half-term can receive help.

Support for schools is just part of a much wider network of support in the county during the pandemic which has ensured people in Somerset have access to food, personal, financial and emotional support.

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Two more community pharmacy sites to offer COVID-19 vaccinations

Two more pharmacies in Somerset will start to offer the COVID-19 vaccination to those in the highest priority groups from this week.

The new sites include Boots pharmacy in Taunton who will provide vaccination services from specially designed facilities within the high street store, and Bruton pharmacy, who will operate from the Community Hall in Silver Street, Bruton.

The pharmacy-led sites will deliver a wide range of pre-booked vaccination appointments throughout the week. People in the highest priority groups as identified by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation will be sent a letter by the NHS and invited to book their vaccination through the national booking service by phone, or online.

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Rural mental health support

A team of officers from Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards are receiving mental health ‘first aid’ training to improve the support they can offer rural businesses and farmers.

The training is part of an initiative aimed at helping officers to recognise the signs of mental illness in order to raise awareness and provide businesses with valuable signposting to support services.

According to the Farming Community Network (FCN) nearly half of all calls made to their helpline between July and October last year were related to mental health and 56% of all calls last April related to Covid-19.

The pandemic has remained a source of concern for the farming community since then.

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Wellbeing Champion urges students to have their say

Hannah Vile, the new Young Person’s Health and Wellbeing Champion for Somerset, is urging young people from across Somerset to have their say.

Hannah, who is excited to be promoting the voice of local students, is heading up a new project aimed at improving outcomes for young people.

Hannah is creating a student voice task group who will meet regularly over the next 8 months to explore young people’s experiences, thoughts and ideas.

She will also work with schools to investigate the impact of the Health and Wellbeing Framework. In September she will report her findings and make recommendations to Public Health and schools to maximise outcomes for young people.

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Calling all large employers

Larger employers in Somerset can now order coronavirus tests for their workforce if they cannot work from home.

The direct route for ordering rapid lateral flow tests has been set up for employers with 50 or more staff in England. Follow this link for more information: https://www.gov.uk/get-workplace-coronavirus-tests