{"id":23477,"date":"2021-07-13T15:44:32","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T14:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/?p=23477"},"modified":"2021-07-13T15:44:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T14:44:32","slug":"south-gloucestershire-council-covid-19-response-step-4-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/health-and-wellbeing\/south-gloucestershire-council-covid-19-response-step-4-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"South Gloucestershire Council Covid-19 response &#8211; Step 4 statement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday,\u00a0Monday 12 July, the Government confirmed its plans for lifting the remaining Covid-19 restrictions on 19 July,\u00a0emphasising the need\u00a0to proceed\u00a0slowly and\u00a0with caution and\u00a0for the public to\u00a0take personal responsibility\u00a0to protect themselves and others through informed choice.<\/p>\n<p>Director of Public Health\u00a0for\u00a0South Gloucestershire,\u00a0Sara Blackmore and Leader of\u00a0South Gloucestershire\u00a0Council, Toby Savage\u00a0have echoed\u00a0the Prime Minister\u2019s statement\u00a0warning residents that the pandemic is not over,\u00a0that\u00a0infection rates continue to rise in South Gloucestershire,\u00a0that\u00a0there continues\u00a0to be significant risk to residents\u00a0from the disease\u00a0and urging\u00a0everyone to continue to observe the safe behaviours that we have been following.<\/p>\n<p>Sara Blackmore and Toby Savage said: \u201cAs we learn to live with Covid as a country, we are moving away from an approach based upon legal restrictions and towards personal responsibility. This is important because in\u00a0South Gloucestershire, our community infection rates continue to rise and there has been an increase in the number of hospitalisations from Covid-19. Our rates of vaccine uptake are generally high but we are seeing a marked slowdown in the number of younger adults coming forward\u00a0and it is within these age groups that we are seeing the biggest increases in cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u00a0are\u00a0urging\u00a0extreme\u00a0caution,\u00a0and\u00a0advising\u00a0residents to continue to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Come forward when invited for both\u00a0doses\u00a0of the vaccine<\/li>\n<li>Wear a face covering in enclosed and crowded spaces where you come into contact with people you don\u2019t normally meet\u00a0or\u00a0where it will make you and others feel more comfortable<\/li>\n<li>Try to meet outdoors or in well-ventilated indoor areas<\/li>\n<li>Self-isolate and get a PCR test if you have symptoms<\/li>\n<li>Self-isolate if you test positive or are told to do so by\u202fNHS\u202fTest and Trace. This remains a legal requirement<\/li>\n<li>Take a regular rapid test\u00a0twice\u00a0a\u00a0week\u00a0if you don\u2019t have\u00a0symptoms. Wash\u00a0your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitiser regularly throughout the day<\/li>\n<li>Cover your nose and mouth when you cough and sneeze<\/li>\n<li>Stay at home if you are unwell, to reduce the risk of passing any illnesses onto friends, family, colleagues, and others in your community<\/li>\n<li>Be\u00a0kind, courteous and<u>\u00a0<\/u>considerate of others &#8211;\u00a0take into account\u00a0not\u00a0only\u00a0your own\u00a0risks,\u00a0but also\u00a0of those around you, such as\u00a0those with\u00a0clinical vulnerabilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe have all been impacted in\u00a0so\u00a0many different ways and it is\u00a0as\u00a0important\u00a0as ever\u00a0that we work together to keep the virus under control,\u00a0with\u00a0everybody following\u00a0the guidance and taking\u00a0action to protect themselves and\u00a0to\u00a0protect others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you for your efforts to keep yourselves and others safe over the past 18 months. We hope you are looking forward to the summer and being able to meet socially with friends and family albeit in a cautious, safe and responsible way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Full details of all the ways to access testing are available on our website:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beta.southglos.gov.uk\/testing\/\">Testing and self-isolating | BETA \u2013 South Gloucestershire Council (southglos.gov.uk)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For dates and times of upcoming walk-in, appointment-free vaccination clinics around our region or to click through to the national booking system to book your vaccine visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grabajab.net\">www.grabajab.net<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Full details of the financial support available if you need to self-isolate or your income has been effected during the pandemic are available on our website:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beta.southglos.gov.uk\/financial-support-for-residents\/\">Financial support for residents | BETA \u2013 South Gloucestershire Council (southglos.gov.uk)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A number of organisations and local groups are still working actively in their communities to help those who need support as the long-term impacts of the coronavirus continue to be felt. Full details of these groups, including contact details, are available on our website:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beta.southglos.gov.uk\/get-help-and-support-in-your-area\/\">Get help and support | BETA \u2013 South Gloucestershire Council (southglos.gov.uk)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday,\u00a0Monday 12 July, the Government confirmed its plans for lifting the remaining Covid-19 restrictions on 19 July,\u00a0emphasising the need\u00a0to proceed\u00a0slowly and\u00a0with caution and\u00a0for the public to\u00a0take personal responsibility\u00a0to protect themselves and others through informed choice. Director of Public Health\u00a0for\u00a0South Gloucestershire,\u00a0Sara Blackmore and Leader of\u00a0South Gloucestershire\u00a0Council, Toby Savage\u00a0have echoed\u00a0the Prime Minister\u2019s statement\u00a0warning residents that the pandemic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[571],"tags":[2596],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23478,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23477\/revisions\/23478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.southglos.gov.uk\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}