How to set up a stairwell / neighbourhood Covid-19 Whatsapp support group

Equipment: Pens, paper, phone, Whats

app, internet connection

It’s likely you’re going through some panic right now, or have done, or will around the drastic changes happening to our society over the next couple of month

s. We’re in the midst of an outbreak of Covid-19 and it’s on everyone’s minds. It’s ok to feel like this is overwhelming, it’s a scary and dramatic thing that we’ve all most likely not gone through before.

As the days roll by we see there’s increasing numbers of people nee

ding to self-isolate, work from home or be confined into quarantine. We do this because we want to ‘Flatten the Curve’, i.e. reduce the number of critically ill people needing intensive medical treatment in hospitals at any one point.

What can we do to help this?

Increasing social connections and reducing physical contact!

Immediate actions

Start making a plan now about how you and your household will deal with self-isolation if need be. Think about things like food, medicines, entertainment, bills, rent, mortgage payments, works sick pay policy.

Next steps

1) Start a Whatsapp group for your local stairwell or local neighbourhood. Use posters on paper to leave your number for others to get in touch with you. Keep it to about 30 people max.

2) Encourage people to talk with each other about what’s going on. Get to know each other a little, trust goes both ways.

3) Discuss what might happen if someone needs to isolate. Are there people who’d be willing to do medicine runs or go on emergency toilet paper runs?

4) Follow trusted advice from experts in the field of medicine! Listen to doctors and what they ask of you, it’s important that we all take steps NOW to slow the spread of the disease.

Talk with friends and ask for help!

Social distancing is key to flattening the curve but we are social beings and we need connection. Knowing that there’s others around you that are willing to help out is key.

This might mean you’re talking to people you’ve never talked to before, that’s ok. It might also mean having to take a risk and trust strangers, and that’s ok too.

Get Organised!

All of this advice comes from the Covid Mutual Aid group and the groups aligning with them. There are plenty of resources available on this website https://covidmutualaid.org/

Remember to wash your hands for 20 seconds and to reduce all social contact to minimum.

Blog post written by Fellow Worker Gemma

Please note these are the views of one person,

and do not necessarily reflect the views of others in the IWW