Thread by @LongCovidKids

Listen to Long Covid Groups closing submission delivered by KC Anthony Metzer. 12/12/23
My Lady, I appear with Sangeetha Ienger and Shanthi Sivakumaran
Instructed by Jane Ryan of Bhatt Murphy
@Jane_Ryan_ @BhattMurphy @covidinquiryuk
#LongCovid #LongCovidKids #CovidInquiry

You heard from our client @SammieFMc during the impact films. In her statement, she said: “it has been extremely distressing to watch my child who had been previously completely healthy, happy and dancing around being unable to move and full of self-doubt. It was like watching

my child fade away – she is no longer the child she was.”

The LCG's have sought to understand how & why there was an inexplicable delay in the @GOVUK recognition of #LongCovid, when longer-term sequelae were foreseeable/ well-established from SARS and MERS.
#LongCovidKids

The evidence overall, including that from Mr Johnson’s own witness statement, makes plain that Long Covid was an inconvenient truth that Mr Johnson chose to ignore. This choice caused great harm and immeasurable suffering.

#LongCovid #CovidInquiry @Jane_Ryan_

Put plainly, Long Covid was not considered in the decisions taken in response to the pandemic.

Is it not simple common sense that long term harm from a virus is relevant to how a pandemic is managed?

#LongCovidKids #LongCovid
#CovidInquiry

The PM wanted to be the Mayor of Jaws and was actively trying to keep the beaches open while delaying the decision to take a second lockdown. He entertained strategies where he thought by keeping the known vulnerable off the beaches, the rest of the population could go out to sea

There are at least 62,000 #children with #LongCovid. Mr Johnson called schools ‘reservoirs of risk.’ In May 21, there was agreement between DHSC, PHE, NHS & DfE that messaging in schools should signpost for any child experiencing long-term symptoms following a Covid 19 infection.

The PM did not mention #LongCovid once. We now understand that there was no @GOVUK communications strategy for Long Covid. This left people believing that if they were otherwise healthy, they would recover quickly when they fell sick, as they had been reassured would be the case

@GOVUK @CMO_England admitted it would have been helpful to acknowledge #LongCovid earlier. The overwhelming picture is that people were not warned that they were all, including previously fit, healthy, active people, indiscriminately at risk of suffering from long-term ill-health.

Looking forward, we hope that this Inquiry will make findings and recommendations that will ensure that we are better prepared to respond to pandemics; it is simple common sense that long term harm from a virus must be a relevant consideration for Government to protect the public

These recommendations are equally relevant today; the pandemic endures yet #LongCovid is no longer being counted or reported on
These 4 categories of recommendations wd ensure that the avoidable on-going suffering of nearly 2 M adults & children in this country, is never repeated

COVID-19 INQUIRY MODULE 2
CLOSING SUBMISSIONS OF THE LONG COVID GROUPS 13 December 2023
#LongCovidKids
@long_covid
@LongCovidSOS
@LongCOVIDPhysio
#LongCovid
#CovidInquiry
@Jane_Ryan_ @BhattMurphy

@long_covid @LongCovidSOS @LongCOVIDPhysio @Jane_Ryan_ @BhattMurphy @threadreaderapp unroll please