Your DMU Safety daily update: guidance and support on self-isolation

In today’s daily Your DMU Safety update, we’re reminding students what to do if you need to self-isolate and where you can access support if needed. 

Letting the university know as soon as you’re able

If you need to self-isolate because you or a member of your household has tested positive, it is important you let the university know you will be unable to attend on-campus lectures and seminars for the duration of your self-isolation period.

You can do this by contacting your faculty Student Advice Centre (SACs) as soon as you are able. This is also so we can advise on the support and advice available from the university and beyond. 

When and how to self-isolate

If you have to self-isolate at any point during the term there will be support and advice available from the university.

You must self-isolate immediately if:

• You have any symptoms of coronavirus (a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste)
• You've tested positive for coronavirus – this means you have coronavirus
• You live with someone who has symptoms or tested positive
• Someone in your support bubble has symptoms or tested positive
• You're told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace
• You arrive in the UK from a country with a high coronavirus risk – see GOV.UK: how to self-isolate when you travel to the UK

Self-isolation means:

• Do not go to lectures, seminars or any other activity on the university campus – work from home if you can
• Do not go on public transport or use taxis
• Do not go out to get food and medicine – order it online or by phone, or ask someone to bring it to your home
• Do not have visitors in your home, including friends and family – except for people providing essential care
• Do not go out to exercise – exercise at home or in your garden, if you have one
• If you are ever unsure, please check the NHS website for all of the latest guidance.

Support and information within DMU

Healthy DMU

• The HealthyDMU Hub is available to support your health and wellbeing at DMU. It will provide you with information about staying well, and how to book appointments with the Student Welfare Team.
• During self-isolation it is important to look after your mental wellbeing as well as your physical wellbeing. All of DMU’s welfare services are also currently available online should you need to access them during self-isolation. This includes counselling, mindfulness, masterclasses and SPA appointments.
• The Healthy DMU Hub has lots of helpful resources to help support you, including information on how to stay active and how to connect with others.

Having enough food and medicine in stock

To prevent food and medicine shortages in the event of having to wait several days for an online delivery during self-isolation, we recommend that you always have a few days’ supply of food and medicine in stock for yourself. A good way of determining how much of a supply you would need is to establish the average number of days it would take for an online delivery via the major supermarkets and pharmacies to arrive, or how long a family member/friend might take to do a food or medicine supply drop off. You will want enough supplies to cover this duration of time. Find out what food and medicine delivery options are available to you.

Government and council support during self-isolation

The NHS provides support for everyday tasks during self-isolation, for example collecting food shopping and picking up medication. You can find out more about NHS Volunteer Responders on the NHS website. You can call 0808 196 3646 (8am-8pm, every day) to arrange help from a volunteer. If you need financial support while you self-isolate you can also apply to a government fund.

Leicester City Council also provides support for local residents who are self-isolating. You can email c19support@leicester.gov.uk giving a contact telephone number and a member of staff will call you back between 9.30am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Support during isolation if you are living alone, looking after children or if you care for vulnerable people can be found by contacting: hello@leicesterageingtogether.org.uk. For emergency mental health support provided by the local authority call 0116 295 3060.

International students

UK Government guidelines are in place to help manage the risks to public health from coronavirus (Covid-19) and currently require those arriving from most international destinations to self-isolate for 14 days. If you’re travelling from an exempt country, you will not need to self-isolate; you can check which countries are exempt on the Gov website.

All of the information on how the university will support you during self-isolation can be found in our self-isolation guidance for international students document.

Good Neighbours Network

We’re currently seeking student volunteers to be part of our Good Neighbours Network to safely offer support to others living in halls of residence during the pandemic. Whether it’s practical help such as shopping, ensuring students are aware of DMU’s support services or just being a listening ear, the Good Neighbours Network aims to create a new peer support community.

DMU Local is co-ordinating the new project which will involve teams across the university such as welfare, student support, finance and more. The focus of the student role will be on sharing information about what help is available at DMU for their peers, so they are aware of where they can get help if they need it. The DMU Good Neighbours volunteers will be supported by DMU Local and other student support services at DMU to self-organise a community of support within their living spaces.

Volunteers will receive full training from DMU Local and work with students who may be in need of extra support and information.

To register email local@dmu.ac.uk or you can sign up to be a Good Neighbours programme volunteer on MyGateway.

We’ll let you know as soon as this network is up and running.

How to Report

If you have tested positive for Covid-19 please report it to the university by completing our dmu.ac.uk/safetracenotify form.

All the information and help that you need to enjoy campus life in a safe and secure way is available on the Your DMU Safety website. Please make sure you read and follow all of the guidance and support on this site and check back regularly for updates. We will continue to closely follow and implement UK Government, Public Health England (PHE) and local authority guidelines.