COVID-19 in Lewisham - 9 October update
Across London, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 is increasing rapidly. Locally, we’re seeing more infections week on week.
Overall, COVID-19 levels in London are still below many areas in the North East and North West of the country, but we are certainly tracking the same course.
As the infection rate increases, it is even more important for us to be careful and mindful of the risks of spreading COVID-19 as it is likely that someone we work with, friends and family may be affected.
Let’s all do what we can to continue to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The simple hands, face, space rules are so important and need to be part of everyday life. Please regularly wash your hands, wear a face covering and maintain the safe 2 metre space from others. If you have symptoms of COVID-19 (continuous cough, fever and loss or change in your sense of smell or taste) please stay at home (self-isolate) and get a test.
Health and Wellbeing Board and health inequalities
Throughout Black History Month, I’ll be using some of my blog posts to update you on the work that we are doing to support our Black communities in relation to the impact of COVID-19.
We are now all aware of the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has had on our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities as evidenced by the reports from Professor Kevin Fenton. In Lewisham, through our existing work on addressing Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) health inequalities with our Health and Wellbeing Board, we have committed to some specific actions on COVID-19 that you can read more about here. Within this we have specific actions around our COVID-19 communications and our efforts to ensure that updates to COVID-19 information and guidance are reaching all of our communities in a way that is accessible for them. One of the methods that we are using to address this is via our Lewisham COVID-19 Community Champion programme, which I wrote about last week.
We are aiming to recruit a diverse cohort of Champions to let us know what works to get important messages out and support us in spreading the word too. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up to this to help us reach the specific communities that you are in touch with. A huge thank you to those who have signed up already!
World Mental Health Day
Hearing about the rising infection rates can be concerning and affect our mental health and wellbeing. Saturday is World Mental Health Day so I want to remind everyone of the mental health support and advice that is available in Lewisham.
The NHS Every Mind Matters campaign provides useful tips and guidance for adult wellbeing throughout the pandemic. The Good Thinking website offers practical steps and tools for Londoners who are experiencing the four most common mental health and wellbeing concerns – depression, stress, sleep and anxiety.
For young people, Kooth offers free, safe and anonymous online support for young people aged 11-25 in addition to our Compass service. Compass Health and Wellbeing Service is a free and confidential service for young people in Lewisham aged 10-19 (or up to age 25 if the young person is leaving care or has special educational needs or disabilities).
Thrive LDN and the Mayor of London’s Peer Outreach Team will also be hosting an online World Mental Health day festival tomorrow. The festival will include a range of workshops, panel discussions and performances focusing on mental health including a session run by Kooth.
Find out more about what to do if you are worried about somebody’s mental health.
There are also a number of 24-hour help lines that provide free and confidential mental health support:
- Samaritans: call 116 123 or visit the Samaritans website.
- Shout: text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258.
- Young Minds (for young people): text ‘YM’ to 85258.
