Nick Triggle did his version of the article @martinmckee & I wrote in the Guardian about how UK has much higher case rates (& death rates) than West & North Europe...
Of course there are different views, but here are some areas I see differently... 1/9
That Europe is doing "vaccine plus" - high vax coverage and some measures such as masks indoors, school mitigations, covid passports is the entire point- it works much better than "vaccine just" in keeping cases (and all their bad consequences) down
And... 2/9
not clear that contact rates are higher here than in Europe - contacts in Europe are SAFER because they've take additional precautions.
In fact SAGE says we are still not close to pre pandemic contact rates in England. Many do not feel able to "be normal" due to high cases. 3/9
The gap in deaths is lower than the gap in cases - but that is partly reflecting higher cases in Europe a month or so ago but deaths are still quite a lot higher here than there.
The flu analogy isn't quite right as Martin explained here:
Long Covid *is* a real concern - the recent paper comparing it to flu showed it's 50% more common after Covid than flu. AND covid cases are WAY higher than flu.
We are already seeing the impact of summer cases on increases in long covid in England - particularly the young. 5/9
Nick - rightly - says there needs to be a debate about what is an "acceptable" level of Covid. I def agree. But we're not having that debate! Instead the narrative is that where we is fine and inevitable.
Our article was raising other options. Let's have the debate! 6/9
All of Europe inc UK is almost 100% Delta. Variants are not behind current differences and it's not that the UK surge will inevitably move to Europe. The difference between us is policy.
Also - many of us are concerned about high Covid rates in children *for children*. 7/9
We might see falling cases soon as boosters, teen vax and immunity from high infection have an effect - but at the cost of hundreds of thousands more infections & their consequences before then vs what we could have had.
I def agree with Nick that NHS is in tricky position. 8/9
Finally - Nick has a little dig at us "self-appointed group of experts". We are an independent group and we are also experts. Esp @martinmckee is a world leading public health academic - advising govts all over world & WHO + president elect of BMA. I'm lucky to work with him. 9/9
Quick thread on current Covid situation in England and Long Covid.
I have Thoughts about the Inquiry Report published yesterday but am still trying to organise them.
TLDR: high Covid levels remain, Long Covid remains 1/11
This wave is not over. While the number of admissions with Covid remains lower than the autumn/winter waves, it has now remained highsh for several weeks.
This means there are a lot of people out there getting sick - and having their work, plans and holidays disrupted. 2/11
Scottish wastewater data to 9 July shows a sharp decrease, suggesting that prevalence might be on its way down.
Obviously Scotland and England can have different dynamics, but it’s the best we’ve got as long as England refuses to analyse its own wastwater. 3/11
THREAD: Given tomorrow's election, I've been thinking about our nation's (poor) health, the wider determinants of health and how these have worsened and what it means for policy....
TLDR: worrying only about NHS & social care is missing the point
let's dive in... 1/25
The UK has a health problem. After steady gains in life expectancy for decades, it flatlined during the austerity years and fell for the first time this century with the Covid pandemic.
The number of people out of work for long term sickness is near record levels. 2/25
There are huge inequalities between rich & poor. Boys born in the most deprived areas can expect to die almost 10 years earlier than their peers in the least deprived areas.
Even worse, they can expect to spend 18 fewer years of their life in good health (52 vs 70 years) 3/25
As ever, I am getting lots of pushback.
Here is a compilation of the European countries I've found with recent wastewater data. Some are going up a bit, some down a bit, some are flat, none are anywhere near previous peaks.
I can't see anything here to be panic anyone. 1/3
I can't find the dashboard for Spain, but others saying it is in a wave. Perhaps it is. England has just had one - the last data we had (a couple of weeks ago from Bob Hawkins) looked as if our wave had peaked.
So, I'm not seeing reason to think things are terrible here! 2/3
Yes there are new variants growing right now. They are not growing faster than JN.1 grew in December and that wave did not end up as bad as feared.
Clearly it remains true that Covid is NOT a seasonal disease (unlike Flu and RSV)
3/3
Quick thread on the Astra Zeneca (AZ) covid vaccine since it's been in the news today.
TLDR there isn't a new "smoking gun", the AZ vax was one of first and cheapest, it saved millions of lives globally, there are better vax out there now, adapted to new variants 1/9
the AZ vaccine was one of the first approved at the end of 2020, cheaper than Pfizer, and - importantly - easier to administer in lower resource settings as it didn't require super low temperatures for storage 2/9
In most countries it was first rolled out in older adults. As it was rolled out in younger adults, a *very rare*, serious, side effect was noticed - it could cause deadly blood clots
This was spotted quickly and studied. Vax monitoring did its job. 3/9
A short thread on why this is not a scary chart and why all the evidence suggests that there is not much Covid around right now. 1/6
the above chart is recorded covid hospital admissions / reported covid cases. It is close to 100% now *because basically only hospitals can report cases since Feb 2024*
It is to do with changes in case reporting and NOT hospital testing
2/6