'Covid community campaigners' being recruited to help fight coronavirus in South Tyneside

Members of the public are being brought on board to help promote official coronavirus guidance.
Shoppers in King Street, South Shields, after the second national lockdown lifted. It is hoped community efforts, vaccinations and testing will enable South Tyneside to move out of the toughest level of restrictions in the coming months.Shoppers in King Street, South Shields, after the second national lockdown lifted. It is hoped community efforts, vaccinations and testing will enable South Tyneside to move out of the toughest level of restrictions in the coming months.
Shoppers in King Street, South Shields, after the second national lockdown lifted. It is hoped community efforts, vaccinations and testing will enable South Tyneside to move out of the toughest level of restrictions in the coming months.

Health chiefs in South Tyneside have launched the initiative in an attempt to double down on their advice for families to keep doing the ‘simple things right’.

And it is hoped the scheme will ensure key information and updates on the pandemic reach households and communities which may be missed by more mainstream methods.

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“In South Tyneside we’ve started to recruit covid community campaigners,” said Tom Hall, director of public health at South Tyneside Council.

“These are people in our communities who can help get across the simple messages in a way which resonates most with their local communities.

“I urge all community leaders to champion those messages to help see our case rate fall.”

Hall was speaking at a meeting of the council’s ruling cabinet, its ninth since the outbreak started to be held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

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Concerns about the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 were raised at the start of the pandemic and have continued throughout.

But the development of potential vaccines and the second wave of infections has given more urgency to the need to combat this.

In November, Durham County Council confirmed it had recruited two covid Community Champions intended to become ‘trusted voices in their local area’ on the virus.

Hall added: “As local leaders, we must continue to urge people to reduce their social interactions as much as possible, wash hands thoroughly and regularly and wear a face covering where you cannot socially distance adequately.

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“It is vitally important to continue to do these simple things right.”

It is hoped a combination of vaccinations and mass-testing will begin to allow steps towards lifting restrictions and returning to normality.

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South Tyneside and the rest of the North East remains in the highest Tier 3 set of regulations, which prevents households from mixing indoors and prohibits pubs and restaurants from reopening for anything other than takeaways.

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