Thread by @DrEricDing

📍Breaking—Fears growing that a new #DeltaVariant subvariant has emerged after 5000 young people infected from attending a 53,000 music festival in Cornwall—linked genetically to a Delta subtype. The region now has the highest #COVID19 rate in England. 🧵
inews.co.uk/news/health/bo…

2) “It was traced because they can identify where it came from by genetic changes in the code.” While it is being referred to among hospital staff in Devon and Cornwall as the “festival variant”, it is believed to be a new strain of Delta rather than an entirely new variant.”

3) ““It’s still the Delta variant but they can say it came from the festival, hence why it is being called the ‘festival variant’,” added the official.
The South-west peninsula now home to eight of the top ten areas in England with the highest rates of infection.

4) “The figures also show that around half of all infections in England are among those under 30, with the highest rate of infection now in the 10 to 19-year-old age bracket.” ⚠️

5) “Cornwall Council has already linked almost 5,000 Covid infections to Boardmasters, with local health officials saying they “won’t know the complete picture for another few days.”

6) a senior scientific advisor has warned that such mass gatherings offer the virus a far greater opportunity to spread than any other outdoor event type. Professor John Drury called on the Government to mandate festival organisers to implement stronger measures to mitigate.

7) Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Drury said: “Different mass events have been found to be associated with very different rates of infection, and one factor explaining this is the crowd culture.”

8) And we can expect greater physical intimacy– touching, close interaction, hugging, sharing drinks etc – at a music festival than at other large events.

9) “One of the key reasons that some people are engaging less with these basic protective behaviours is that the Government has basically said ‘it’s safe now, it’s fine, you’re not going to die’. We need to support new norms around safety at the festivals.”

10) Dr Zubaida Haque, a member of Independent Sage, added: “The thing about mass gatherings is that people are right to think outside is safer than inside, but it’s the travelling back and forth to the mass gatherings that’s one of the main issues.

11) If that mass gathering is for several days, like a music festival, then there’s also going to be a lot more contact between people, which give the virus more opportunity to spread.”

12) Has this sort of mass superspread we thing happened before? Yes, recently after Eurocup soccer matches where young people gathered.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1410239252076630018

13) Music festivals are incredibly dangerous it’s seems. Netherlands epidemics after music festivals show even higher infection rates.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1415270906184835079

14) the @WHO has even specifically warned about sporting events and mass gatherings, even if seemingly outdoors. It’s the side gatherings and after hour events most dangerous.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1414680957160988681

15) But @BorisJohnson says it’s acceptable if 1000 people die from #COVID19 every week. Don’t expect UK 🇬🇧 govt action anymore - they have abdicated all responsible governance and public health pandemic mitigation.

https://twitter.com/yaneerbaryam/status/1431635077365178369

16) I know it’s a busy day with two new troubling variants, but in addition to the UK Cornwall music #festivalvariant subtype of Delta, I think the new #C12 variant is worse. It is the MOST MUTATED variant found to date—see below 👇 thread

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1432200392776028162

17) Even the #DeltaVariant appears to continually acquire new mutations. There are now a dozen or more Delta subtypes. But the newest one from Cornwall’s music festival appears to be one of the largest new subtype pockets.

18) UK is now about to reopen schools with no mask mandate for kids. #DeltaVariant is now surging once again in the UK. This will not be good for controlling the new Delta subtype sub variant.

https://twitter.com/dr_d_robertson/status/1430569148124438529

19) Over half the performing band of Kid Rock’s team now has #COVID19 after performing at this overcrowded event. Gee, if only we epidemiologists warned about this.

https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1432001664232398849

20) But @BorisJohnson says 52,000 people dying of #COVID19 a year / 1000 dying a week is no big deal. So party on and keep spreading these variants?! 🤦🏻‍♂️

thanks for speaking out @Sandyboots2020

https://twitter.com/sandyboots2020/status/1432288214304411651