Coronavirus: guidance to keep everyone safe

You would have seen a lot of information about the spread of the Coronavirus in the news. And while experts agree that this situation is very serious, we would like to remind everyone that there is no need to panic. It is equally important to keep looking after your mental health in this context, which is why we’ve listed the latest advice to provide the right balance between being cautious and managing strong emotions.

Following the latest Government guidance, our services, courses, activities and groups will stay open and continue to run until further notice. But as the situation is rapidly developing, we invite you to check our website, Facebook and Twitter pages regularly to keep abreast of any changes.

Handwashing

We ask that anyone visiting any of our services washes their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds and dries them thoroughly using our facilities as soon as they enter the premises – even before signing in. This applies to everyone, regardless of having symptoms or not.

Anyone not complying with this procedure might be asked to leave the building immediately. This procedure is in place to prevent spreading the virus and keeping everyone safe.

Self-isolation

On top of this, we will ask you to follow the latest guidance regarding people who have symptoms:

• Please do not attend any of our services if you have a temperature of 37.8 or above.
• Please do not attend any of our services if you have a persistent cough or develop a new cough.
• If you do, please remain at home for seven days.

Similarly, if you are over 65 with certain long-term health conditions such as diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease, the advice is to stay at home too.

International travel

We also want you to follow the advice regarding self-isolation following international travel. The government classified Category 1 countries which have the highest incidence of infection and therefore present the greatest risk to those who have recently returned from visiting. The guidance is that anyone who has returned from a Category 1 country should self-isolate for 14 days. In order to minimise the risk of an infection taking place within our services, it is important that anyone who has knowingly been in contact with anyone who has visited a Category 1 country, and is still in the 14-day self-isolation period, does not visit any of our services.

Likewise, the guidance for returning visitors from Category 2 countries is that self-isolation should be undertaken if symptoms develop within 14 days of returning. For the same reasons, it is important that anyone who has knowingly come into contact with anyone who is self-isolating on this basis should not visit our services.

Looking after your mental health

If you are feeling anxious about the coronavirus outbreak and are unsure of what to do to look after yourself, we recommend reading the Mental Health Foundation guidance.

If you are not able to visit our services but need mental health support, we have listed all helplines you can contact on the Crisis Support page of our website.

Your co-operation is key!

We know these procedures are very strict and inconvenient but we ask for your utmost co-operation in these unusual times, so we keep the most vulnerable people in our society safe.

For the latest guidance on the spread of the virus and what to do to protect yourself and others, please visit the government’s website.

We thank you for your understanding and co-operation!

The Mary Frances Trust Team

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