If you do not wish to catch Covid, please take precautions now. Please also get your Covid booster if you are eligible, or consider whether you can afford to get one privately.

As of 28 September, around 1 in every 123 people in England were infected, and the risk of encountering an infected person in most indoor places is now High. Unless the indoor air is fresh, or filtered/purified, good quality PPE respiratory masks are needed to protect yourself.

Although we can start to see the beginning of the winter influenza wave, levels of the influenza virus in England are extremely small at present. (1/3)

If you, or someone around you, have symptoms of a respiratory virus such as fever, coughing, sore throat, headache, etc, it is much more likely that these are symptoms of Covid. If you do have flu-like symptoms, test several times for Covid. (2/3)

If the test is positive, do notify your GP surgery. If you are one of the unlucky fifth of people who develop a post-Covid condition, knowing that you had a positive Covid test could be very important for your future health treatment. (3/3)

Obviously, if you or someone you have met does have symptoms of Covid/a respiratory virus, please do the decent, patriotic thing and keep it to yourself. Unless you are absolutely unable to do so, please isolate until your symptoms have been gone for a couple of days. (1/2)

If you can’t isolate, wear a tight-fitting PPE respiratory mask (FFP2/FFP3) whenever you are in contact with other people. (2/2)

This week, we are highlighting the risks of Covid to your heart and circulatory system. It is now medically proven that Covid significantly increases the risk of blood clots, and the virus itself can cause inflammation of heart tissue and your veins & arteries. (1/2)

If you have an existing heart condition such as coronary heart disease or heart failure, catching Covid could be extremely dangerous. Please talk to your own doctor to get medical advice – while we can give you accurate information, we are not doctors. (2/2)

Now that Covid infection levels have dramatically risen, BuDS is now strongly recommending that everyone takes precautions against Covid. These precautions should be taken in all indoor places, unless you are sure the space is very well ventilated or has HEPA filtration. (1/2)

We continue to not recommend Covid precautions outdoors, unless you are in a dense crowd of people. If you would like to know the likely number of infected people you would encounter in different types of building, please check the table on our website or Substack. (2/2)

Covid is not just dangerous for clinically-vulnerable people. The virus has been proven to have an adverse health impact on most people who catch Covid. No-one should be relaxed about catching Covid.

This is BuDS’ 244th Covid risk assessment since the beginning of the pandemic, and we are still the only organisation publishing free risk data for disabled and clinically vulnerable people. We will update you on the situation again next week.

If you’d like to get our weekly Covid risk assessments direct to your email inbox, completely free of charge, you can subscribe here:

For more Covid information and help, please contact BuDS and we will be happy to help.