David R Tomlinson 🇺🇦💙 Profile picture
Dec 3, 2022 11 tweets 4 min read Read on X
25th March 2020*

"Hi JVT. It's a bit late; what's up?"

"Steve, we need your help. Bloody medics are kicking off about the guidance change. They're refusing to see patients without FFP3"

"I thought the airborne HCID declassification was meant to sort that?"

[*Unverified date]
"Seems not. Twitter is kicking off; probably the source for this. Too many cottoning on the the fact that coughing releases aerosols & these have to be assumed to be infectious"

"Shit. We don't have enough even for ICU right now; what do you need from me?"

"A letter"
"Oh?"

"CAS Alert. You know; immediate national access all areas"

"Sorry, of course. Sure. When do you need it?"

"Saturday [28th] at the latest. Think you can do it? It'll need to be convincing on the IPC. But don't worry, @doyle_yg is on side, as is @AoMRC President"
"Wow. OK, fine. What are the essentials?"

"Great. Knew we could count on you.

Number 1: thank the staff for their dedication & say that their safety & PPE supply is a priority"
"Number 2: say you know there have been PPE supply problems, but you're confident these have been resolved"
"Number 3: The key is to make it clear that we are RECOMMENDING surgical masks for all staff in all covid19-facing roles except for AGPs & ICU.

We must stop general ward staff from getting their hands on FFP3 - there are just too many of them"
"Bloody hell JVT, it's going to be carnage. Do hospitals have enough staff to fill the gaps?"

"Don't worry Steve. It's sorted. You know the plans to bring forward provisional registration for doctors & nurses, & Trusts are up-skilling medical students to fill ward posts"
"And there's one more super important thing.

The most important.

You MUST include this exact phrase:

'COVID-19 is not airborne, it is droplet carried'

OK?"
"Hang on JVT. Chris blabbed to the bloody Health & Science Select Committees that covid is airborne on the 5th. Won't they remember?"

"Don't worry he hid this with his later answers. Plus the huge operation with PHE pushing hand hygiene, dispensers everywhere. Confusion reigns"
"But what if someone asks? I mean, asks for the data to support this 'not airborne' bollocks. What do we say?"

"Blimey Steve, stop being paranoid. It will never come up. But if it does, 'we do not hold any documents that falls within the scope of your request' usually works
Note: Clearly an imagined conversation between key leaders of the UK pandemic response, early March 2020

But the FOI request, & reply I received are the truth

#FreshAirNHS #COVIDisAirborne @covidinquiryuk

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with David R Tomlinson 🇺🇦💙

David R Tomlinson 🇺🇦💙 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DRTomlinsonEP

Dec 18, 2023
'I would like to highlight evidence demonstrating that Professor Heneghan may be in breach of Section 35(2) of the Inquiries Act 2005'

Am looking forward to hearing your response @carlheneghan

covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/inq0…
TL/DR in evidence to @covidinquiryuk, CH stated SARS2 transmission is via large droplet & fomites

But:

Following peer review triggered changes 6 Jul 2022, CH's own work stated that SARS2 transmission is via 'fine aerosols & respiratory droplets, & to a lesser extent...fomites'
Why omit the empirical truth that SARS2 transmission occurs importantly via the airborne [aerosol inhalation] route?

Why do this, particularly as David Heymann's 13th Oct 2023 evidence to the PI clarified the @WHO position:

WHO knew SARS2 transmission was via aerosols, Jan 2020
Read 8 tweets
Oct 13, 2023
🚨David Halpern Cabinet Office

'Arguably the most fundamental misstep in the UK response was the presumption that covid would be an unstoppable flu-like wave'

This

underpinned the early (Chris Whitty) position on T&T, & the Vallance view on 'herd immunity' (later air-brushed)' Image
Aside

Early SAGE minutes clarify the UK rationale for stopping community SARS2 testing: it was deemed unnecessary because with rapidly increasing case numbers there was no point in testing, as there were insufficient personnel to contact trace

Good to know whose plan this was
'But there was an alternative'

'This led us to question...though we found ourselves quietly dismissed as not understanding the science'

'Ironically, the pride in our science & our capabilities, slowed our ability to learn lessons from other countries'

/2 Image
Read 8 tweets
Oct 12, 2023
In his capacity as co-chair of the 2016 pandemic respirator stockpile committee, where does JVT stand legally with this description of healthcare workplace protection 'logic' like this?

🚨Respirators only specifically recommended for ICU/HDU staff - i.e. AGP 'hotspots'

/1 Image
DESPITE

🚨Stronger evidence of aerosol transmission since 2009

🚨His own 2013 review now already used by David Heymann at @covidinquiryuk M1 to describe optimal protection against aerosols - FFP3 mandated as per COSHH

/2 Image
In his witness statement, JVT's logic rests on this concept:

🚨FFP3 is fine for MERS/SARS1 because of 'high case fatality rate & transmission to HCWs was well documented'

But what is unstated is the completion of this 'logic circle': I hope you don't mind me speculating?

/3 Image
Read 7 tweets
Sep 28, 2023
Dear @DidierPittet @jonotter @peyo3319

Good evening

By now 2 of you will have an email alert about my @PubPeerBot response to your Letter

UK Research Integrity Office (@UKRIO) teams suggested this route, on reading my detailed evidence submission
pubpeer.com/publications/B…
To overcome an unexpected formatting issue on upload to the PubPeer site, below please find my correctly formatted letter expressing concerns & questions over your 'research behaviour'

[your letter, plus summary comments from 2 down this thread]

p1-4


Image
Image
Image
Image
p5-7

Image
Image
Image
Read 24 tweets
Jun 15, 2023
Day 3 @covidinquiryuk

🚨Prof David Heymann

CV highlights

2003: WHO executive director for communicable diseases - headed the global response to SARS

2017-2022: Chair of the WHO Strategic & Technical Advisory Committee on Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH)

Written evidence 🥁

/1
Annex 2: Matters to be addressed from Letter of
Instruction

I hope you don't mind, but for obvious reasons I'll focus on his comments on transmission

#COVIDisAirborne

/2 Image
Transmission: pt 71 onwards

'Researchers addressed major questions about transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during the first months of the pandemic

It was known...that the virus spread easily...especially in indoor & other closed spaces such as the Diamond Princess cruise ship...

/3
Read 17 tweets
Jun 14, 2023
Day 2 @covidinquiryuk: witness statements online

Prof Jimmy Whitworth & Dr Charlotte Hammer [p36] make an 'interesting' (i.e., exposing their bias &/or COI) statement concerning future recommendations
covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/upl…
/1
'Engagement...with academic research groups is needed so that key unanswered Qs arising during the early stages of an epidemic can be rapidly addressed. An example from the COVID-19 epidemic would have been to determine the role of airborne and droplet spread of infection'

/2
This, as we know, is a 'controversy' manufactured by WHO et al

van Doremalen (you know, whose research group's experimental aerosol viability work affirmed the airborne nature of MERS in 2013) proved beyond doubt that SARS2 was airborne in their 17 Mar 2020 @NEJM paper

/3
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(