Coronavirus
I am sure that constituents will have been keeping up to date with developments on the Coronavirus and can appreciate that this a fast-moving situation and I hope that everyone has been following the official guidance and is keeping safe.
To date, I have tabled numerous Parliamentary questions to get answers to the range of concerns I have, you can see these here. They include questions on what the Government is doing to increase the number of ventilators and ICU capacity, when testing for Covid-19 will be made available for NHS frontline staff and members of the general public and whether the Government will increase statutory sick pay to the European average.
I have written to the Business Secretary to ask for guidance on what support businesses will be receiving from the Government and I have also written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure full sick pay and lost earnings protections are extended to all workers (including the self-employed) and that renters are not threatened with debt, insecurity and homelessness. I am also a signatory to a letter to the Chancellor calling for an adequate minimum level of support for people moving onto Universal Credit.
In addition to this I have contacted Lewisham & Bromley Councils to find out what actions they are taking, especially to protect people with underlying health conditions, older people isolating, the homeless, refugees, those with no recourse to public funds, those accessing social care and families in crowded emergency/temporary accommodation.
I have also contacted many of our local organisations and charities to find out about what efforts are being made in the community and to help coordinate the community response. I know many of you will want to know what you can do to help our community. So far, I have received the following requests:
Bromley Living Well:
Lewisham Food Bank:
Lewisham Council:
Bromley Council:
NHS:
Red Cross:
The Government has announced an economic package to protect households and businesses, you can find out more on the Government website. I believe that the Government should be doing everything it possibly can to assure and secure all individuals and groups within our society.
To this end I believe the Government should introduce measures for rent deferrals, mortgage holidays, measures to keep businesses afloat, an increase in statutory sick pay – commensurate to the amounts paid in other European countries - and lost earnings protection from day one of self-isolation and illness for all workers including insecure workers, low paid workers, and the self-employed.
In addition to this I believe the Government should make the scientific evidence and their modelling publicly available. Publishing this information is very important to maintain public confidence in the Government’s handling of the outbreak and so that we can all come together and get behind the effort to protect our communities.
Going forward if we as a community remain calm, work together to help those who are most vulnerable and follow the up to date health guidance I am confident that we will be able to get through this challenging period.
If any constituents have any concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know and I or a member of my team will do what we can to help. Following the advice on social distancing my office is closed but my team is working as normally as possible from home and we can be contacted at ellie.reeves.mp@parliament.uk and 020 7219 2668.
I hope this helps clarify everything to date and again please do not hesitate to get in contact with me if you need to.
For information on the outbreak:
Everyone should follow these main guidelines:
To date, I have tabled numerous Parliamentary questions to get answers to the range of concerns I have, you can see these here. They include questions on what the Government is doing to increase the number of ventilators and ICU capacity, when testing for Covid-19 will be made available for NHS frontline staff and members of the general public and whether the Government will increase statutory sick pay to the European average.
I have written to the Business Secretary to ask for guidance on what support businesses will be receiving from the Government and I have also written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure full sick pay and lost earnings protections are extended to all workers (including the self-employed) and that renters are not threatened with debt, insecurity and homelessness. I am also a signatory to a letter to the Chancellor calling for an adequate minimum level of support for people moving onto Universal Credit.
In addition to this I have contacted Lewisham & Bromley Councils to find out what actions they are taking, especially to protect people with underlying health conditions, older people isolating, the homeless, refugees, those with no recourse to public funds, those accessing social care and families in crowded emergency/temporary accommodation.
I have also contacted many of our local organisations and charities to find out about what efforts are being made in the community and to help coordinate the community response. I know many of you will want to know what you can do to help our community. So far, I have received the following requests:
Bromley Living Well:
- Are looking for volunteers to help deliver food to vulnerable people and maintain contact with these people by phone – if you would like to volunteer for this please let me know and I can pass your details on.
- Are looking for volunteers to help with their Friday lunches/foodbank – apply here.
- Any donations are also very welcome, more info here.
Lewisham Food Bank:
- You can donate food at their donation points, more info here.
- Are looking for reserve volunteers to help with the foodbank, please contact: info@lewisham.foodbank.org.uk
- And monetary donations via the Mayor's appeal are very welcome, more info here.
Lewisham Council:
- If you need help or assistance or if you want to volunteer, you can register on the Lewisham Local page here.
- Keep up to date with the Council's work on Corona here.
Bromley Council:
- If you need help or assistance or if you want to volunteer, you can register here.
- And general guidance here.
NHS:
- Are looking for Volunteer Responders to help deliver medicines from pharmacies, drive patients to appointments, bring them home from hospital and make regular phone calls to check on people isolating, sign up here.
- If older people, their families, friends, carers and professionals have any concerns about anything, including welfare, care or housing, they can contact Age UK’s free advice line, 8am-7pm, 365 days a year: 0800 055 6112
- Have produced guidance on practical ways to help older people in your community and advice on neighbourly volunteering.
Red Cross:
- Have a community reserve volunteer program to sign up or find out more click here.
- Have guidance on neighbourly kindness and how to protect against loneliness here.
- Have a donation page to help those affected by coronavirus here.
The Government has announced an economic package to protect households and businesses, you can find out more on the Government website. I believe that the Government should be doing everything it possibly can to assure and secure all individuals and groups within our society.
To this end I believe the Government should introduce measures for rent deferrals, mortgage holidays, measures to keep businesses afloat, an increase in statutory sick pay – commensurate to the amounts paid in other European countries - and lost earnings protection from day one of self-isolation and illness for all workers including insecure workers, low paid workers, and the self-employed.
In addition to this I believe the Government should make the scientific evidence and their modelling publicly available. Publishing this information is very important to maintain public confidence in the Government’s handling of the outbreak and so that we can all come together and get behind the effort to protect our communities.
Going forward if we as a community remain calm, work together to help those who are most vulnerable and follow the up to date health guidance I am confident that we will be able to get through this challenging period.
If any constituents have any concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know and I or a member of my team will do what we can to help. Following the advice on social distancing my office is closed but my team is working as normally as possible from home and we can be contacted at ellie.reeves.mp@parliament.uk and 020 7219 2668.
I hope this helps clarify everything to date and again please do not hesitate to get in contact with me if you need to.
For information on the outbreak:
- For the most up to date information on the outbreak, click here.
- For more information on the symptoms of Coronavirus and what to do if you feel unwell, click here.
- As of 23 March 2020 the Government introduced the following measures: 1. Requiring people to stay at home, except for very limited purposes 2. Closing non-essential shops and community spaces 3. Stopping all gatherings of more than two people in public. Everybody must now follow these measures, more info here.
Everyone should follow these main guidelines:
- The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of a new continuous cough and/or high temperature. If you have these symptoms, however mild, stay at home and do not leave your house for 7 days from when your symptoms started. You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation. If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after 7 days, contact NHS 111 online. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.
- Wash your hands more often than usual, for 20 seconds using soap and hot water, particularly after coughing, sneezing and blowing your nose, or after being in public areas where other people are doing so. Use hand sanitiser if that’s all you have access to.
- To reduce the spread of germs when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, or your sleeve (not your hands) if you don’t have a tissue, and throw the tissue away immediately. Then wash your hands or use a hand sanitising gel.
- Clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces using your regular cleaning products to reduce the risk of passing the infection on to other people.