Thread by @DrEricDing

Muzzling risks in schools—Downing Street (Boris Johnson) censored @PHE_uk and prevented crucial data on spread of new #COVID19 variant in schools—notably blocking data on Indian variant school spread. Scientists & teachers said it was “deeply worrying”. 🧵
theguardian.com/world/2021/may…

2) “The focus of their anger concerns the pre-print of a PHE report that included a page of data on the spread of the India Covid-19 variant in schools. But when the report was published on Thursday 13 May, the page had been removed.”

3) “It was the only one that had been removed from the pre-print. Days later, the government went ahead with its decision to remove the mandate on face coverings in English schools.”

4) “Evidence suggests No 10 was directly involved in the decision not to publish it. The prime minister’s office acknowledged it was in correspondence with PHE officials about presentation of the data but vigorously denied this constituted “interference” or “pressure”.

5) “Data on spread of the new variant in schools has still not been published, despite calls from union officials & scientists who say teachers & families are being put at risk. In hotspots such as Bolton, cases involving the variant are rising fastest among school-age children.”

6) Information reveals that 164 cases of the new variant were linked to schools up to 12 May, or 13% of a total of 2,111 cases. Since then, the number of total cases of the new variant has risen to 3,424 cases, a rise of 160%. The number of cases now linked to schools is unknown.

7) PHE will only say the data will be published “in due course”. It declined to comment on whether Downing Street has played a role in the decision.

8) Sage advisory group meeting last week warn new variants are “capable of generating a wave of infections bigger than previous waves”, and that the danger of “overreacting seems small compared to the potential benefit of delaying a third wave until more people are vaccinated”.

9) Christina Pagel @chrischirp, professor at University College London, said the situation was very troubling. “It feels like bad news that we’re not being told.”

10) Here is what is happening now in kids in Bolton UK 🇬🇧… school age kids are clearly at the forefront of the nee outbreak. And yes it’s mostly a #B16172 outbreak. This was what Downing Street didn’t want to admit to the world. Thx @IndependentSage.

11) Oh, you haven’t heard about the new school outbreaks in UK? Well there is a reason — UK Boris Johnson administration is actively muzzling their CDC-equivalent (PHE) and preventing their publication.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1396210596144689154

12) Here is the outbreak being muzzled… the PHE report still got it’s school #COVID19 section censored and gagged… but it doesn’t take a genius to guess what they are hiding based on the data below. See detailed thread 🧵 on #B16172 in UK.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1396397770924232704