Every so often, we receive a health and safety bulletin from Leeds Health, Safety and Wellbeing Team. The most recent one has some useful advice that you can follow at home, and encourage your child to follow everywhere. Below is an extract…
The winter is nearly here and with it will inevitably come Norovirus, more commonly known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’. This bug thrives in warm atmospheres where there are a lot of people concentrated in one place – like schools, which are the perfect breeding grounds and are often some of the worst hit places with staff and pupils becoming ill. The illness itself often comes on quite quickly and can last a few days.
Although it cannot be eradicated completely, there are some ways schools can attempt to reduce numbers and hopefully avoid a full outbreak.
This is some of the guidance from Public Health England to reduce the risk of contamination / outbreaks:
- Regular thorough handwashing – use soap and warm water, rubbing front and back of hands and between fingers, rinse carefully with water and then dry hands thoroughly. Washing your hands properly should take at least 15 seconds – or about the length of time it takes to sing ‘Happy birthday to you’ twice through!
- Hand-washing is especially important after going to the toilet and before touching any food.
- Children need to be encouraged to wash their hands by being shown how to do it properly and having a good example set for them by adults.
- If you have a cold, use tissues to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, throw used tissues away as soon as possible and wash your hands. Try not to cough and sneeze directly into your hands and wash them immediately if this is unavoidable.
At Moortown, we encourage the ‘vampire method‘ if we’ve no tissues nearby!