Covid-19 update 24 March: Allotments allowable exercise & plot safety guidelines
Our secretary sent a question to BBC Breakfast this morning while Michael Gove was taking questions, and we’ve had an answer:
Getting exercise is important at a time like this and we know what a positive impact keeping up a plot has for so many of our members.
If you’ve been at the plots since yesterday, you’ll have seen the posters we’ve posted at the gate and on the toilet doors with advice and some new restrictions on the way we use the plots that will help us to keep everyone safe and comply with government requirements.
The Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Science Adviser to the government have been consistent with the message that the best way to prevent the spread of the virus is to wash your hands (along with distancing). For this reason, as we’re one of the few sites in Glasgow with the luxury of handwashing facilities, we’ve decided to keep the water supply running to the site. We’ve also had additional hand sanitiser in the toilet areas since yesterday.
There are disposable gloves next to the handwashing sinks, so please take one of these if you need to draw water from the path taps. We’ll also try to leave a supply of gloves at the taps themselves. Please use these rather than your gardening gloves, which you might have touched your face with or coughed into without noticing. Disposable gloves can be put into the toilet bins as you leave.
As you’ll see from the signs, we’re restricting use of both toilet areas to one person at a time so that everyone can keep the recommended distance from each other – 2 metres / 6 and a half feet.
We’ll keep monitoring the situation and keep everyone updated as and when anything changes. We’ll also post these announcements on our Facebook page, the notice board inside the gate, and by email where it seems necessary.