Thread by @adamhamdy

1. THE GOLDFISH

I’m collating information and evidence for a *thing* and thought it might be worth revisiting @CMO_England Professor Whitty’s evidence to the Commons select committee on 4th March. Here he is acknowledging the airborne nature of the virus.

2. Here he is talking about seasonality and how transmission might naturally fall over summer.

3. I think there might be another seasonal component, but we’ll have to wait and see if this hypothesis is correct.

https://twitter.com/adamhamdy/status/1302993555334496256

4. Just in case there was any doubt, Professor Whitty makes it clear that environmental airborne exposure is an important mode of transmission.

5. This clip is absolutely staggering, and I remember being aghast at the time. This explains why the UK got it so wrong. Basic policy was intervention as late as possible to minimise economic impact.

6. It goes against all best practice pandemic response, which shows early intervention leads to better health and economic outcomes. @DrMikeRyan sums it up beautifully.

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1238504143104421888

7. I find this one amusing. The presumption that Britain would be in a position to help the international community suggests CMO might have underestimated the threat. And the comment about international variations just makes me think about the UK’s aversion to masks.

8. This clip made me wonder about the critical thinking involved in planning the UK’s response. Here the CMO notes the unusual biphasic disease presentation in the minority of acute cases. Anomalies can tell us a great deal about common occurrences.

9. A disease that is unusual in having a second more severe phase could have some mechanism for persistence or reactivation, and if more attention had been paid to this, Long Covid might have been recognised sooner rather than later.

10. The natural follow-up question is if there is a mechanism for persistence in the bone marrow, central nervous system or other organs, what are the long-term health implications and economic and social cost of such widespread transmission?

11. Why the Goldfish?

Goldfish are reputed to have bad memories. In the stress and turmoil of the past few months, the government might be expecting us to forget things.

12. We were told schools would not reopen if there was widespread community transmission. Since they have and there is, and the CMO has known this is an airborne, respiratory virus since March, why isn’t there a masks mandate for schools?

13. France, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and many other countries have implemented a masks for all policy in schools. The government’s scientific advisers have recommended this measure, as has the @WHO

14. Once again, British exceptionalism is likely to lead us down a dark path. It is important we remember this is an airborne, respiratory virus. The weight of scientific opinion tells us children should be wearing masks in school.

15. We are not following the scientific advice or other advanced economies by packing our classrooms with children who aren’t wearing masks. If health is the economy, we are currently placing ourselves at a strategic economic disadvantage.

16. I’m reminded of February in calling for the government to take early precautionary action. Wait and see doesn’t work during a pandemic, but as the clip above suggests, this slowness has been at the heart of the government’s response since the start.