Good morning. Self-isolation for people who have tested positive for coronavirus, or for people who have been in contact with people testing positive, has been an important tool in tackling the pandemic, and will continue to be vital in containing local outbreaks, but it can be very hard for people to comply. Today the government has announced that it is piloting new schemes to help people self-isolate in England, including offering people alternative accommodation.
In its news release summarising the pilots, the Department of Health and Social Care says:
The government is to launch nine trailblazing pilots in England to test new, creative ways to help ensure people stick to self-isolation rules in areas with higher prevalence of infection including from new variants.
In partnership with local authorities, the government is backing the pilots with £12m which will be used for a range of initiatives including providing alternative accommodation for people in overcrowded households, social care support such as increasing existing social care support for vulnerable adults and providing ‘buddying’ services for people whose mental health has been affected by lockdown and the variant outbreaks, and language communications support for individuals where English isn’t their first language. These pilots are designed to encourage people most at risk of catching and transmitting Covid-19 to come forward for testing and to self-isolate successfully if they test positive.
AC