Somerset County Council – Latest Coronavirus Update and Advice

Coronavirus update from Somerset County Council

Latest Coronavirus Update and Information – Somerset County Council

Help and information from Somerset County Council is now available in a single place on the SCC website. 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 too www.somerset.gov.uk/coronavirus just scroll down to ‘Covid-19 dashboard’. These are also updated daily.

Somerset County Council Coronavirus Bulletins

Coronavirus bulletins are now available to anyone. To sign up simply visit Coronavirus updates (somerset.gov.uk)

You may wish to share this with your friends or anyone who would like to stay up to date with the latest developments.

Somerset Sight – Can you Volunteer to help?

Somerset Sight is a local charity which  has been supporting sight impaired people across Somerset for over a hundred years and in 2019 won the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.

One of our services is the Volunteer Visiting Service whereby volunteers are matched locally with a sight impaired person for regular visits for company and support, and also helps alleviate their loneliness and isolation.

Volunteers help with a variety of tasks such as reading, correspondence, or making appointments,  going out for a drive or just a cup of tea and a chat.  Many volunteers get great satisfaction and enjoyment from their voluntary work, many friendships are formed and the people they support very much look forward to their visits. At the current time as face to face visits are not permissible, the service continues with regular phone calls until such time as a visit is allowed again.

For anyone who is sight impaired and would like to know more about our services or if anyone would like to volunteer for the Visiting Service, please contact us on 01823 333818 for further information.

Somerset Sight look forward to hearing from you soon!

National lockdown: Stay at home

5 January, 2021

Somerset – with the rest of England – is now in national lockdown following the government’s announcement last night.

The message is simple: you must stay at home. The single most important action we can all take is to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.

You must not leave or be outside your home except where necessary. You may leave home to:

  • shop for basic necessities, for you or a vulnerable person
  • go to work, or provide voluntary or charitable services, if you cannot reasonably do so from home
  • exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person, this should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.
  • meet your support bubble or childcare bubble where necessary, but only if you are legally allowed to form one
  • seek medical assistance or avoid injury, illness or risk of harm (including fleeing from domestic abuse)
  • attend education or childcare – for those eligible

Colleges, primary and secondary schools will remain open only for vulnerable children and the children of key workers such as those working in health and social care. All other children will learn remotely until February half term. Early Years settings, for example nurseries, can remain open.

The rules apply to those who are fit and well. Separate guidance has been issued for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.

National Lockdown Government Advice