Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.
– Source: World Health Organisation
The NHS lists the symptoms as:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
They also offer a symptom checker service: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/
You can access the service via NHS 111 Online: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/
Gov.uk has a dedicated coronavirus website: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
This includes information about employment & financial support; school closures, education and childcare; travel; how coronavirus is affecting public services; and many other things.
This includes information about support for Manchester’s most vulnerable people, schools & adult education, benefits & money, leisure activities, public events & gatherings, and many other things. Manchester’s Community Response Hub is open Monday to Saturday, 8:30am-5:30pm. If you need support with food, medicines or fuel bills, you can contact their freephone number 0800 234 6123 or email address: COVIDSupport@manchester.gov.uk
Manchester’s Local Offer also offers advice and information that are more relevant to families with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND):
These include information about the IAS Manchester Helpline, Short Breaks advice for parents & carers, school closures, as well as things to do at home.
This is the official advice from government:
Stay at home
- Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (but only if you cannot work from home)
- If you go out, stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times
- Wash your hands as soon as you get home
Do not meet others, even friends or family. You can spread the virus even if you don’t have symptoms.
The link above contains answers to questions such as:
- When am I allowed to leave the house?
- Can I go to the dentist, my GP or another medical appointment?
- Can I walk my dog / look after my horse?
- Should I stay at home or go to work?
- I’m not a critical worker and I can’t work from home. What should I do?
- How can I find out if my work is essential or not?
- Can I see my friends?
- Can I visit elderly relatives?
- Can I go out to help a vulnerable person?
- My boss is forcing me to go to work but I’m scared of coronavirus. What should I do?
- I can’t go to work because I need to look after my child, but my boss is threatening to sack me if I don’t. What should I do?
- Can I move house?
- Can I go to the park?
- Can I drive to a national park or other green space to walk?
- Can I exercise more than once a day if I need to due to a significant health condition?
- What will happen to me if I break the rules?
The situation with COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is rapidly changing. We are following government advice on how to stay healthy and safe during this time. We have gathered a list of resources and guidance about coronavirus to share with parent carers, children & young people and education, health and social care practitioners. This page will be kept under review and new resources added to the categories as they become available. We hope that you find this information useful.
You can access this resource on CDC’s website: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/help-resources/resources/covid-19-support-and-guidance
With so much out there about Covid-19 (coronavirus) and confusion about the virus and its impact on families with disabled children, we wanted to make sure we offered you somewhere to go where all the most important information you need is in the one place.
We will keep adding to this pages as and when the situation changes, so please keep checking back for additional information and resources that could be useful to you and your family.
You can access this resource on Contact’s website: https://contact.org.uk/advice-and-support/coronavirus-information-for-families-with-disabled-children/