"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
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
'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)'
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'
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'
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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
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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?
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]
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…
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'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'
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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
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