More than 170,000 volunteer to help UK fight coronavirus

 

A woman walks across London Bridge during rush hour, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. London, Britain, March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

 

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 170,000 people have signed up to help Britain's National Health Service tackle the coronavirus outbreak just hours after a request for a quarter of a million volunteers.

 

"At times of crisis people come together," Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, told BBC TV. "This is a health emergency and we can all play a role."

 

Britain had called for 250,000 volunteers to deliver food and medicines, provide transport for patients and supplies, and to telephone those who are becoming lonely because of self isolation.

 

The system aims to reach up to 1.5 million people who are "shielding" - keeping themselves at home for 12 weeks under government advice to protect those with serious health conditions.

 

The death toll from coronavirus in the United Kingdom jumped on Tuesday by 87 to a total of 422 - the biggest daily increase since the crisis began.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-25

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Latest update  405 000, people have volunteered up to now

Latest update 405,001

Handy to have a free pass once the lockdown gets tighter.

450,000 Brits have signed up. Well done.

true heroes imo..

I have signed up to do telephone support and shopping for those that need it - hundreds have in my local area. We will lick this thing quicker than many think. After this is over we will have built robust local community networks that hopefully like post-olympics will help to change the landscape of communities right across Britain. Sadly though one of my next door neighbours (they are 70+) asked my wife and I to witness their wills. 

 

Thank you for your offer of support!
 
It’s been wonderful to see how many people are keen to get involved and help people during this difficult and stressful time. We’ve had over 500 volunteers in the door in just a few days!

While we want to get you all working as soon as possible, we need to make sure we’re getting this right. Our Volunteer Hub project a longer-term project of support which will be there for people throughout this crisis, rather than an immediate short-term response. We’re building a lot of this from the ground up and want to make sure we’ve got everything in place before we bring you all in. We’re doing our best to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. 
 
It’s also been an incredibly hard week for many of Bexley’s charities. They have been overwhelmed with making logistical changes and finding ways to deliver their services remotely, so while we work to support them it may take a bit longer than we thought for us to direct you to where you are needed. Please do bear with us. We’ll keep you all updated on our plans as they develop.

In the meantime, please have a thorough read of our volunteering welcome document attached. It should lay out some key details on how this will work as well as very important information on safeguarding vulnerable adults.
 
You can also take a look at the options below to help people in the immediate short term:
Donating to your local Food Bank
Joining Next Door to respond to local requests for help
Taking a look at local mutual aid groups
 
On behalf of all our local charities and community groups, we’re so thankful for your help and your patience.
 
We’ll be in touch soon,
  
The Team at BVSC

Edited March 26, 20206 yr by URMySunshine

A surprising source has poured official cold water on the significance of the threat posed by the pandemic now sweeping Britain.

 

The UK Government’s own top health experts have officially downgraded the status of the corona virus blamed for 9,529 infections and 465 deaths.

 

Their shock conclusions were published on the Public Health England website a week ago - to a deafening silence from the mainstream media busy ramping up the apocryphal rhetoric.

 

The unexpected turnaround by his health boffins failed to deter Boris Johnson from pressing ahead with plans for a nationwide lockdown, due to be nodded through by the Commons today.

 

The official government announcement on the downgrade is buried among a mass of routine virus-related information on the health authority website. It states:

 

"COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK.

"The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. 

"Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.

"The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID."

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid#status-of-covid-19

 

Had this crucial announcement received the immediate publicity it deserved, the Government would almost certainly have faced a backlash over their lockdown plan’s harmful impact on the national economy and human rights.

 

Unfortunately, it looks like a case of too little too late.

 

For a deeper analysis of this extraordinary situation:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-DohJ16gO8

 

Edited March 26, 20206 yr by Krataiboy

3 hours ago, Syduan said:

That's 45 volunteers for every 1 infected.

They have to be vetted but you would get the best wouldn't you. But as the numbers are rising it is best to be prepared don't you think.

 

I sort of got the feeling that you were not that optimistic.

Edited March 26, 20206 yr by Laughing Gravy

5 hours ago, Syduan said:

That's 45 volunteers for every 1 infected.

The volunteers are not there for the people with the virus, they are there to help others avoid it, like all of those who are self isolating.  Way more than the half a million people who are volunteering.