Our children learning to read at Crockerne C of E Infants School would recognize and understand these three simple words – Stay At Home – so we certainly cannot misread or misunderstand them. The time has now come for all of us, not just some or most of us, to make a binding individual commitment to do just that – Stay At Home.
Stay At Home is the major instruction of our government which has declared the Coronavirus CV19 a National Emergency and it is one with which our Parish Council totally agrees. It is a chance for us to show our unity and belief in our village by all behaving in the same way. If a single individual decides that it is acceptable to disregard the instruction we must all challenge or call out such defiantly anti-social, selfish and irresponsible behaviour.
By contrast responsible behaviour starts when we have to go shopping once or twice a week but we must keep our distance from others, including shop staff, and pay by card if possible. Once daily exercise is a great tonic for us all but we must avoid narrow routes which make passing others dangerous. And, of course, thorough hand washing when we get home is essential.
We are all united in our praise of The Heywood Practice, our local pharmacy, Cohens and our health care staff who are working incessantly on our behalf to ensure our protection and safety. So one “I cannot do any harm if I meet my friends”, or one “ I’ll only pop in for a few seconds,” will make the work of our surgery, our pharmacy and our care staff – our front line – even more difficult than it is now. In fact we would be hurting the very people upon whom the most vulnerable in our village depend.
The world’s scientific and medical advice has agreed that only united approaches against the virus will have a chance of slowing it, resisting it and recovering from it. Any lack of unity amongst us now will make our village more vulnerable than it already is, hastening the time when we become overwhelmed and increasing the number of people we will be burying. So, however you look at it, our Parish Council believes all of us have only one choice –
STAY AT HOME!
Paul Kent
Chair on behalf of The Parish Council. 25/03/20