Tens of thousands of people have joined community efforts to look after the most vulnerable in society by volunteering to pick up shopping, deliver medicine and even offer music lessons to defeat boredom.
Despite some concerns raised over the safeguarding of the elderly, by Monday afternoon, more than 720 local mutual aid groups had been set up by citizens from Wythenshawe to Woking, aimed at helping neighbours in self-isolation and boosting morale.
The first group was set up in Lewisham, south London, on Thursday, but by midway through Saturday, there were 87 nationwide, rising to 300 by Sunday evening after Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said people aged over 70 would be asked to self-isolate in the coming weeks, for up to four months.
An umbrella organisation – Covid-19 Mutual Aid UK – led by around 10 campaigners is steering the network, but each group is independent. The groups can cover a single street or ward as well as whole towns and follow a simple template. People who feel capable of helping those in need register as volunteers, normally on a Facebook page. Homes are then leafleted with information about what help is on offer as well as contact details including a telephone number and a message of hope and support. Those in self-isolation can then request the help.
“I was feeling quite despairing,” said Elisabeth Elektra, a musician in Glasgow who set up a mutual aid group on Saturday night which attracted 450 people in about 36 hours, 60 of which signed up as helpers. “A lot of people I know are losing their income. I thought that although things are bad, maybe I can mitigate the impact and show people support. Society has been divided, but now we can show we can act in a unified way.”
Volunteers have been pinning up posters in blocks of flats in her ward of Hillhead encouraging anyone who needs help to contact them by phone. “We are being very careful,” Elektra said.
“The posters even say that we have washed our hands [before pinning them up]. I wouldn’t want anyone going into people’s homes. I think there is going to be very little contact. It will be about leaving stuff on the doorstep.”
Other community help initiatives have been springing up, including Volunteer Cornwall, which was contacted by more than 500 people over the weekend willing to become “flu friends”. Andy Brelsford, the charity’s development manager, said some of the volunteers would be used to free up health and social care workers by taking on basic visits to people in isolation that might consist of “opening the curtains and making a cup of tea.”
Many retired police officers and health workers are among the volunteers and will be sent to the most vulnerable cases because they have already undergone criminal record checks, Brelsford said.
Acorn, the community union, has set up a website allowing people in Bristol, Brighton, Manchester and Sheffield to flag up their need for help, to then be connected with a volunteer.
Momentum, the activist group linked to Labour, said it was rallying its 100,000 supporters to join and form community aid groups “where people work together in a safe and responsible way to make sure the vulnerable can get the prescriptions, food and other essentials they need”.
On Tuesday, people running mutual aid groups will be offered training in how to safeguard volunteers and recipients of help. Some groups are requesting that volunteers provide criminal record checks, while others are encouraging the creation of small street- or block-based groups so that volunteers are more likely to be known locally.
Questions remain about the handling of money for groceries, with bank transfers being proposed by some as an alternative to cash, which could spread infection.
“There are safeguarding concerns, and that is why we are encouraging people to keep it as local as possible,” said Seren John-Wood, 23, who helped establish the first group in Lewisham. “The solidarity that has emerged from this is incredible. We are hoping this will forge long-lasting connections.”
The umbrella group, which John-Wood is part of, is also telling local groups not to pass on personal data from volunteers and those requesting help to anyone, “especially other organisations or institutions”. It is stressing that deliveries to the vulnerable should be carefully handled to avoid spreading the virus.
Lambeth council, where the movement began, has warned that the groups may not be completely safe and it wants anyone who needs help to contact the council first. Edward Davie, the cabinet member for health and adult social care, said that while the impulse to help was “fantastic”, leafleting door to door could spread the virus and even enable scammers, who might disappear with people’s shopping money.
“If you are genuinely unable to resupply yourself with food, then we will sort that out for you,” he said. “We will make sure we have the capacity to do what is required.”
He said concerned residents should offer help to people they already know, make donations to food banks, or appeal to established services like Age UK. He said that in future the council would like to work with mutual aid groups to help get them vetted.
John Morris, 27, a political campaigner in Nottingham, set up his mutual aid group on Saturday afternoon. Four thousand people had joined by Monday morning and 100 more had signed up to volunteer their help.
“Some people have offered to cook for others, some have said they can drive, some have offered to shop,” Morris said. “I have even had some people offering to teach music online.”
He is planning to breakdown the volunteers by ward and said the group would signpost people to council or NHS help if they needed it. “I want it to work in tandem [with public services],” he said. “I don’t want to step on their toes. We want to make sure there is enough support for everyone.”
“We can help with picking up prescriptions, food and supportive phone calls,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the umbrella group. “It’s about identifying what people’s needs are who are self-isolating and creating a community response for those people at the sharp end.”
Smith’s own group in two wards in Islington, north London, has a membership of 100 people on its database of volunteers. So far, two households have got in touch asking for help, including an elderly couple in their 70s and 80s with underlying health conditions.
“It is testament to the fact that people are worried,” he said, but added that it also showed “people have a very grounded sense of community and its importance… Individual wellbeing is dependent on collective wellbeing and common resilience.”