Regular COVID-19 testing for safer working
Free rapid response community testing will be available on the Isle of Wight from Tuesday 16 February.
Please note: This is only for Island employees who don’t have COVID-19 symptoms and who can’t work from home.
Around one in three people with COVID-19 don’t have symptoms.
Free community testing for all workers who don’t have COVID-19 symptoms and cannot work at home, will help to reduce people unknowingly passing the virus on to others.
Employees can book a tests online at: www.keeptheislandsafe.org/community-testing or by calling 01983 823660 if they don’t have internet access.
From Tuesday 16 February community testing sites are available at:
- Newport – Floor One of County Hall, High Street, Newport, PO30 1UD;
- Sandown – The Heights Leisure Centre, Broadway, Sandown, PO36 9ET;
- Ryde – Learning and Development Service, Westridge Centre, Brading Road, Ryde, PO33 1QS.
Open: Monday to Friday – 7am to 7pm; Saturday – 7am to 1pm.
More locations are planned.
Business continuity
By offering free community testing to all workers who cannot work at home, NHS Test and Trace will be able to quickly identify anyone who may be unknowingly passing the virus on to others. They can then self-isolate immediately, helping to safeguard your workforce and provide business continuity. It will also protect your customers and the wider Island community.
Please keep your workplace safe by encouraging your staff to attend these tests regularly. Find out more about keeping workspaces COVID secure in the article below.
Who is community testing for?
Community testing is particularly targeting those people where there is a higher risk of exposure or potential for mixing between household groups. Examples could include:
- local authority frontline workers not covered by other programmes;
- early years settings not covered by national programme (childminders, non-maintained nurseries);
- retail including supermarkets;
- construction and maintenance;
- some transport workers/hubs (including ferries, taxis, bus drivers);
- volunteers, including those supporting local authorities and emergency services in supporting the welfare of local residents.
Businesses with 50 or more employees are invited to register for workplace testing – see the article below).
How to book
Employees can book a test online at: www.keeptheislandsafe.org/community-testing or by calling (01983) 823660 if they don’t have internet access.
Workers with smartphones are advised to bring these with them.
The testing process should take a maximum of 15 minutes. Lateral flow tests give a response in 30 minutes. You are advised not to eat anything 30 minutes before the test.
Employees are advised to have a test two times a week.
If the test is positive
If someone gets a positive test result, they and everyone they live with must self-isolate immediately for ten days. This includes the day of the test and the next ten full days.
At this point, your own workplace policies and procedures will come into effect. It is critical that people with COVID-19 do not go to work and risk infecting other people and spreading the virus further.
Please remember: self-isolation is for a minimum of 10 days.
Community testing is for people without COVID-19 symptoms
If you have COVID-19 symptoms, you should self-isolate immediately and book a test for people with symptoms online or by calling 119. Those tests will take place at Newclose County Cricket Ground, Newport.
Thank you for all you are doing to keep the Island safe.
Managing COVID-19 in the workplace – free webinars for Island businesses
Isle of Wight business owners are invited to join the council and Public Health England (PHE) for a free one hour webinar; “Managing COVID-19 cases and outbreaks in the workplace for Isle of Wight businesses”.
Get the latest information from the government on regulation impacting the business sector and PHE on infection control and case/outbreak response.
Book and join online at one of the following events:
Is your office space COVID-secure?
It is still a legal requirement to work from home unless it is not reasonably possible. If you or your staff must go into an office space to work, then it is important to make sure your that your space and your business is COVID-secure.
Office spaces can be a risk of transmission. Businesses play a critical role in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and keeping the Island safe. It’s important to make sure your business operates in a COVID-secure way that will protect both employees and customers. It will also provide reassurance to customers that it is safe to visit your workplace.
Make sure your business is COVID secure by following the government guidance relevant to your sector.
You will need to do a risk assessment to assess and manage the risks of COVID-19 in your workplace.
It is your responsibility to make sure your business operates as safely as possible. You need to know how to manage a case or outbreak of COVID-19, should it occur.
The council’s COVID-19 support officers are here to help
The Isle of Wight Council’s dedicated team of COVID-19 support officers will be visiting office premises to make sure business owners and managers have understood the requirements. We can answer any questions about operating in a COVID-secure way.
The team will also be responding to complaints sent into the council’s regulatory services and to the Health and Safety Executive from employees about COVID-19 related concerns.
Please contact (01983) 823000 or covidregs@iow.gov.uk for further information or advice.
Register for COVID-19 workplace testing
Businesses with 50 or more employees are now able to register for lateral flow tests, which can produce results in less than 30 minutes.
Around one in three people have the virus without symptoms and could potentially infect people without even knowing it.
A website has been launched for businesses to register to order tests if:
- your business is registered in England;
- you employ 50 people or more;
- your employees cannot work from home.
You’ll need:
- the name of your company;
- your company registration number;
- an email address.
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