{"id":53004,"date":"2021-09-17T17:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=53004"},"modified":"2021-10-01T17:10:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T16:10:48","slug":"working-from-home-helps-curb-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/working-from-home-helps-curb-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Working from home helps curb coronavirus cases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Steve Brown, our Director of Public Health Devon, was asked this week about working from home and whether a return to it, as outlined in the government\u2019s Plan B, (Winter Plan), would help drive down the case rate in Devon.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, (Sage), said last week that there\u2019s \u2018potential for another large wave of hospitalisations\u2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advisors to the group said that increasing cases of the virus remain the earliest warning sign that hospital admissions also likely to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also said that a high level of homeworking has been important in helping to contain cases, and that a significant decrease in homeworking in the next few months would result in a rapid increase in hospital admissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since restrictions lifted in July, people are no longer asked to work from home, and businesses have been expected to manage risks to staff and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But many organisations, Devon County Council included, have maintained that their staff whose job roles allow it can continue to work from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cBeing airborne, coronavirus thrives on social contact,\u201d explains Steve Brown. \u201cAnd working from home instead of the office has done a lot to reduce social contact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cAs a measure, working from home has been discussed this week as part of the government\u2019s Plan B, to be reintroduced should circumstances demand it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cI would certainly encourage it, and for employees whose employers allow it now, I recommend doing it whenever you can and for the foreseeable future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cBut we should all now act cautiously. Case numbers in Devon have fallen, but we expect them to rise again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cVaccine take-up when it\u2019s offered to you; regular lateral flow testing for those without symptoms, and PCR testing for those with symptoms; self-isolating if you test positive; wearing face covering in crowded locations; minimising close contact; good ventilation indoors; and hand hygiene \u2013 these should all be engrained in our minds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cPlease continue to do your bit.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High levels of homeworking have been important in helping to contain coronavirus cases, and so a decrease in homeworking could result in more cases.","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[106,22,34],"tags":[293],"class_list":["post-53004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adult-social-care","category-business-economy-and-skills","category-community","tag-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"featured_image":false,"category_priority":106,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2028-04-07 01:15:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53004"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53171,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53004\/revisions\/53171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}