Coronavirus advice 1: handwashing

Coronavirus may dominate our next few months. As councillors we have been advised to: 1.Alert local residents to this list of key resources: NHS main Coronavirus page NHS common questions answered Best practice to discourage disinformation is to say 'Don't believe what you read UNLESS it's from the NHS'. Then direct people to NHS pages*. However if you are determined to check out a rumour, and can't find it on the NHS pages, go to the Full Fact pages on Coronavirus. Public Health England's Coronavirus hub - more in depth and even allows you to download posters that you can print yourself. Today we have uploaded the handwashing video from NHS England, and will be uploading others in coming days.  2. Update people on any changes to local services. It's likely that councils and many organisations will need to change services. If we hear of anything being changed we will let you know via this page - but don't assume we will hear so let us know if you spot something. 3. Suggest that people check in on an elderly or vulnerable person before the government recommends social distancing. This will mean that there's a plan to help them with the shopping (etc) if they need it while isolated.  (We'd add, make sure you do a good handwash before you go round so you minimise the risk of taking the virus in to them). 4. We are looking at switching from public meetings to on line meetings - and carefully following government advice about this. HELP STOP THE FALSE INFO - DON'T REPEAT IT * Best practice is to not repeat false information, even to debunk it. This is because our brains confuse familiarity with truth. So even hearing a lie debunked, can make us believe that the lie is true.  If you are interested in reading more about this then Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking Fast & Slow provides many academic studies that explain this.