COVID-19 Update - 11th March, 2020

Dear Church

I'm sure you've all been following closely the latest news around the Coronavirus Covid-19, and the whole situation continues to be in our prayers. As a church, we need to be especially mindful of those who are most vulnerable to complications from Covid-19 and seek to protect them in the best way we can. 

None of us are experts, so we are relying on official guidance from the government, the NHS and Public Health England to help us make decisions on how to respond, and at what point we'll be implementing changes. 

If you look at the image below, we are currently in the Containment Phase, which means we are being encouraged to carry on life as normal, but take the usual infection precautions which include:

• carrying tissues and using them to catch coughs and sneezes, and binning the tissue
• washing hands with soap and water (for 20 seconds) or using sanitiser gel to kill germs
• trying to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• if you feel unwell, stay at home, do not attend work, school or church

We are also following additional advice from the CofE that we should limit the amount of physical contact we have with each other by not:

• handshaking or hugging when we meet
• laying on of hands during prayer

Finally, anyone who has returned to the UK from any of the high-risk areas in the last 14 days and develops symptoms of cough or fever or shortness of breath, should immediately:

• stay indoors and avoid contact with other people as you would with the flu;
• call NHS 111 to inform them of your recent travel to the country.

At some point, we are likely to move into the Delay Phase, and at that time we will be issued with further guidance which we will use to update the church. 

In the meantime:

• We are providing additional anti-bacterial hand sanitiser stations in strategic locations around the church and hall (if anyone knows where we can purchase more locally please let us know!)
• We will wipe down all tables with anti-bacterial spray before the cafe service on Sunday
• We have cancelled next week's Coffee Morning as the majority of people who attend are in the high-risk categories
• We are checking with volunteers in high-risk categories if they are happy to continue volunteering for our various services and groups. If your team leader hasn't yet been in touch, please feel free to contact them first
• We are looking at ways to video our services and make them available to those who aren't able to come on a Sunday
• We will be speaking to our regular cleaners about increasing the anti-bacterial cleaning around high traffic areas including door handles and light switches

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us. 

From the Elders