Covid impacting Cope Foundation

Several staff at the Cope Foundation are isolating or restricting their movements, the charity has said, as it described the weeks ahead as “incredibly challenging”.

Cope Foundation Chief Executive Sean Abbott was speaking about the deteriorating Covid-19 situation and issued a statement which said that the rise in community transmission is starting to impact the Foundation.

“We already have a number of staff isolating or restricting their movements. This is having an unavoidable effect on our ability to provide services to people we support.

“Unfortunately, it is expected that we will need to curtail some of our services and supports so that we can keep people safe. The local Cope Foundation service manager will contact the people we support and their families directly to discuss how it may impact them.”

The statement continued: “We are confident that we can work together to limit the spread of Covid-19 and keep the people we support, our teams and the broader community safe. We are hopeful that once we turn a corner on this latest surge, we can look forward to the vaccination programme's roll-out and a safer, healthier 2021.

“If any of the people we support or their families have any questions or concerns, please contact your local manager who will assist you.” Mr Abbott concluded by thanking the public, and also echoed the broader public health message in asking them to limit their number of contacts. "If we again act as a community, we can protect the most vulnerable,” he added.