On recent dog walk, got chatting to a lady I'd met a few times:
Her: Are you holidaying abroad this year
Me: I can't because of Covid & immunosuppressed family members
Her: But Covid is over now
Me: 1 in 45 people are infected & 1,000 ppl a week dying
Her: Not now though
1/
Me: Yes, those are recent numbers
Her: But you never hear about it anymore
Me: Yes because they'd sooner you ignored it
Her: It doesn't affect vaccinated people
Me: Well it does and you can still get bad outcomes & LC
Her: Well it's mild now and it'll soon be over
2/
Me: The 1,000 ppl dying every week are not finding it mild
Her: But they probably had something else and didn't die from it
Me: Yes, they'd like you to think that
Her: Well we've all had it anyway and so we're not worried
Me: But you can get it over and over again
3/
Her: But I was fine anyway. Had no symptoms at all so I'm not worried
Me: But asymptomatic infection doesn't mean it hasn't harmed you or weakened your immune system. It doesn't mean it will be asymptomatic with a subsequent infection
Her: But catching it again is rare
4/
Me: It's not rare. It's commonplace. Immunity is transient & lasting immunity is impossible
Her: Well the boosters will help
Me: So when's your next one planned
LONG PAUSE
Her: I haven't heard about getting another booster
Me: So how will you stay protected as this progresses
5/
Her: Well this will be the last wave. Omicron was a blessing
Me: There are already new variants that are expected to cause another wave
Her: But they just get milder until it's gone
Me: Where do you get your news from
Her: BBC and the Mail
Me: I see.
6/
Her: Well there's not much we can do about it. It's like getting a regular cold & we got those every year
Me: It's very different from a regular cold & there is plenty we could be doing about it
Her: Well we can't just keep everyone locked up
I explained clean air approaches.
7/
The propaganda has done a fine job in making people believe this is all over. It's clear that what I said was news to her & that she kind of only half believed me.
She & her family feel like there is no risk whatsoever. I can't change that no matter what I say.
8/
Many people seem to think that vaccines have solved the problem & any other kind of measure is a lockdown.
It's clear that the message about ventilation, measuring CO₂, high levels of air filtration, overhead GUV & FarUV have not yet reached everyone.
I'll keep trying.
9/END
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I don't normally spend time arguing on here but I have lately. I'm so fed up with misinfo. Thought I'd challenge some of it.
It's amazing how strong opinions are formed from such little knowledge or insight.
Often people are fooled by credentials; cos they must know, right?
1/🧵
However, when you consider how we ended up here, we have had no end of highly credentialed people who are just flat out wrong, 'helping' to direct policies.
Qualifications are all well and good but it doesn't = right.
But folk who don't know are guided by folk they think do.
2/
And this gives rise to pretenders who gain themselves a following and inflated self importance on the back of it.
Their followers become almost besotted with their icon; often because they're calm mongerers; providing a comforting version of events.
They back them to the hilt.
3/
Health minister @GwynneMP got sacked today.
He was useless on Covid anyway.
Some say he has been badly advised by 'experts'.
I think those experts were selected because they tenaciously defend flawed science.
Govs hide behind these 'experts' to limit costs & liability.
1/🧵
It isn't just in the UK.
In Canada for example, people like John Conly are doing the same thing as Lisa Ritchie in UK.
They are demonstrably wrong.
For @UKLabour to have any credibility, they need a clear out.
If I'd been elected, my first job would have been a sacking spree.
2/
Get rid of the CMO, head of UKHSA, head of infection control for NHS etc.
Strip them of any titles they've received...not for their service; simply for their compliance and for being the faces Governments can hide behind.
There are no excuses left - none whatsoever.
3/
Thoughts on recent UCL study of ventilation & air cleaners.
I've seen a lot of negativity towards it and I think that's mainly due to the headline used, saying it can increase risk.
The study also found it can decrease risk.
It complex to study fluid dynamics in a hospital.
1/🧵
The authors are urging caution to ensure that HVAC/PAC give the desired result by using predictive fluid dynamics models.
That's hardly a bad thing.
There's almost no point trying to measure anything experimentally if people write off the findings because they don't like them.
2/
But the important thing here: I don't think this was ever set up to deliberately play down effectiveness of ventilation or PACs. It was to study complex fluid dynamics and although I can see things I would have done differently, it's a worthwhile study.
3/
Relly: You're Aunt is very ill
Me: What with?
R: A very bad cold.
M: Has she tested to see what it is?
R: No, no point.
M: It makes a difference as to what steps you could take.
R: She's taking Lemsip. She caught it from her son who caught it at work.
1/
R: He's been extremely ill but is slowly recovering.
M: Does he take any precautions to protect her when he's out at work? She's only just getting over cancer.
R: Oh yes - he eats his lunch in his car.
M: But what does he do in the workplace to mitigate risk?
R: I don't know.
2/
M: Can you not see that this was likely wholly avoidable?
R: Well I'm sure they'll both get better.
M: But they didn't actually need to get ill and take such risks and you're telling me they're both extremely unwell. He could have masked up.
R: Masks are very uncomfortable.
3/
When I discovered that UK Gov had a page on their website saying that airborne transmission is 'the main route', they ref'd a 2021 paper:
"Breathing, speaking, coughing or sneezing: What drives transmission of SARS-CoV-2?"
Linked in the next post but here's an excerpt:
1/🧵
I've been looking at the evidence statement submitted to @covidinquiryuk by Prof. Cath Noakes.
I'd highly recommend @GwynneMP does the same.
However, it would make it very clear how disingenuous you have been in the letter written to @timfarron.
Let's look at some examples;
1/🧵
It was clear in 2020 that airborne transmission was important:
"Reflecting the changing understanding around transmission, ventilation measures to mitigate airborne transmission was focused more strongly in advice, with a lesser emphasis on transmission via surfaces."
EMG Evidence Spring 2021 - February 2022