Update centre
Update on coronavirus (COVID-19): Information for residents
18th May 2022
The safety and wellbeing of our resident community is of utmost importance to us, and we want to share the latest guidance on COVID-19.
Helping our students and staff protect themselves and others is our top priority. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have implemented a number of measures to ensure that we continue to provide safe, welcoming homes for our residents. We will keep this page updated with the latest guidance and advice, as well as useful information for residents, so we encourage you to check this page regularly.
Government Guidance
The UK and devolved governments continue to update their advice on COVID-19. The advice may be different, depending on where you live. Please check here frequently for updates. To stay informed of developments, we also recommend that you closely follow your university’s guidance.
Information and advice
Protect yourself and others
It is important that we all use our own personal judgement and take what actions we can to protect ourselves and others around us from respiratory infections, including COVID-19. You should continue to follow the guidance set out by the Government and you can find out more depending on where you live in England, Scotland and Wales.
What iQ is doing
Even though legal restrictions are being relaxed, we’re keeping measures to make our buildings as safe as possible for residents and staff. You can find out more about what we are doing to continue to provide safe and welcoming homes to those living with us.
We will continue to closely monitor Government guidance, and will manage our properties accordingly.
What to do if you feel unwell
If you have any symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19, or a positive test result for COVID-19, you must follow the latest government advice depending on where you live. To find out what you need to do, follow the guidance of the NHS.
What to do if you are self-isolating
Residents should notify their site team that they are self-isolating via the iQ App or portal so we can support you with collection of parcels, shopping and periodically taking out refuse. Any non-emergency repairs and maintenance can be rescheduled to when you feel better.
Please see the NHS’ guidance on self-isolation, and its advice on COVID-19. If you live in Scotland check here, and if you live in Wales check here.
Get support with your mental health
SHOUT is a free, confidential, 24/7 support text line. The service is confidential and can be accessed anywhere, at any time. Simply text “SHOUT” to 85258 to have a conversation with one of their trained volunteers.
You can also read this helpful blog from our partners Shout 85258 sharing tips on what students can do to look after their mental wellbeing during this time, and take a look at our wellbeing page for more.
Other practical advice
Post collection and food delivery
If you have any coronavirus symptoms, you should try and stay at home and avoid contact with others. Please send a friend or flatmate who is not self-isolating to reception to collect any delivery for you or, alternatively, let the site team know by phone or email, and they will leave it outside your flat door.
Receiving a positive COVID-19 test result
NHS guidance can be found here.
In England and Scotland, government advice if you have COVID-19 is to try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days and avoid meeting people with higher risk from COVID-19 for 10 days.
In Wales, the government advice is to self-isolate for 5 full days and take a lateral flow test on day 5. If the test is negative, you can leave self-isolation on day 6. If the day five or day six test is positive you should continue taking daily lateral flow tests until you get two negative tests in a row, taken a day apart or until day 10 – whichever is sooner.
Guests
Residents may have guests in line with iQ’s guest policy.
Room and flat maintenance
We will continue to carry out maintenance and works as required. Our teams will respect your space, and if you want them to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) they will do so.
Even if you are self-isolating you should continue to report maintenance issues and where urgent our team will work with you to ensure these are resolved.
Fire alarms
In the event of a fire alarm, please evacuate the building as you would normally even if you are self-isolating. We recommend that you wear a face covering and physically distance yourself from others (wherever possible).
We ask all residents to be vigilant in terms of preventing fires and in particular false alarms s. We all have a role to play, so please:
- Call 999 in the event of a fire being discovered. As ever, please do not rely on others including staff calling the Fire and Rescue Service.
- Do not leave fire doors propped open.
- Don’t smoke inside the building, including vaping.
- Don’t tamper with smoke detectors or other fire safety equipment.
- Keep your shower room door closed while taking a shower.
- Remember that candles are not permitted.
- Don’t leave cooking unattended, even for a few moments.
- Don’t cook using deep fat frying – shallow fry if you need to.
- Make sure the cooker is off when you have finished using it.
- Don’t use metal containers or leave cutlery in the microwave when in use.
- Do not use cooking appliances, such as rice cookers, in your bedroom.
- Keep away from the smoke detector when using aerosols.
- Make sure you are always able to hear or respond to a fire alarm.
Other questions you may have
If you don’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch with hello@iqstudentaccommodation.com.
How will we deal with your data during the current Covid-19 pandemic?
At iQ Student Accommodation we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We already hold personal data regarding our residents and our Privacy Notice sets out the ways in which we will process your data.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we may need to ask you for additional personal information (including special categories data, such as information about your health) and share it with others, in order to respond appropriately to the pandemic and to take measures to keep our properties safe for all our residents.
For further information on your rights in relation to your personal data, please refer to our privacy notice. If you wish to raise a complaint in relation to our processing of your personal data, you can contact our DPO at dpo@iqstudent.com.