As you’re probably aware the UK is now in the ‘delay’ phase regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Chief Medical Officers have raised the country’s risk from moderate to high.
We take the safety and wellbeing of all volunteers at Cambridge 105 Radio very seriously and we understand this is a worrying time for many people.
We ask everyone to continue following the government and Public Health England’s advice, which is the following:
The most important thing you can do to protect yourself remains washing your hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water.
Make sure you cough or sneeze into a tissue, put it in a bin and wash your hands. Catch it, bin it, kill it!
Anyone who shows certain symptoms should self-isolate for 7 days, regardless of whether you’ve been to affected areas. This means you should stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for one week, from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection.
The symptoms are:
- a high temperature (37.8 degrees and above)
- a new, continuous cough
You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation.
If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after 7 days, contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.
Station protocol:
If you believe you are showing signs and symptoms of COVID-19, we ask you to self-isolate as per the advice above – and contact Julian, Matt or Alex as soon as possible so necessary contingencies can be made.
We’ll need you to provide us with the following information:
- when you were last in the radio station
- when you first started showing signs of COVID-19
- the date of which your self-isolation started and is expected to end.
This will help us to put necessary measures in place to safeguard others who you might have been in contact with in the days leading up to symptoms being exhibited.
We will check in with anyone affected through that individual’s isolation period.
At risk groups:
It’s likely you are more at risk of serious illness if you catch COVID-19 if you are in one of the following categories:
- aged 60 years and over
- have a long-term medical condition – for example, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, cancer or high blood pressure.
If you fall in one of these groups, we ask you to notify Matt Julian and Alex as soon as possible to ensure we have your details on record accordingly.
Studio guests:
We strongly advise keeping all guests to phone interviews only for the foreseeable future; this is to help limit the traffic of people into the radio station.
If you do have any guests coming in to the building, we ask you to find out in advance:
- whether they’ve shown any symptoms of COVID-19 during the past 14 days
- whether they’ve been in direct contact with anyone who’s been diagnosed or shown symptoms of the virus
- whether they’ve been in self-isolation.
If in doubt politely tell the contributor that the interview will be conducted on the phone or will be re-arranged.
Any guests coming in must follow the hand washing advice outlined below.
What we’ve done at the station and what we ask of you:
- we’ve re-stocked the hand soap supply and have also purchased some kitchen roll; this is available in the kitchenette area
- we ask everyone to wash your hands upon arriving and leaving the radio station, following the government and Public Health England advice above
- ensure you and any guests/visitors accurately sign in and out of the visitor’s book. This will help us keep a record of anyone coming into the radio station, should an outbreak arise.
We’re monitoring the situation on a constant basis and will be in touch with any further advice and guidance as soon as appropriate.
Matt, Julian and Alex