Thread by @SGriffin_Lab

So, exasperated with the total lack of mitigations against a pandemic, I settled in to write one of my verbose threads...then realised I'd done it already and the situation hasn't really changed much...aside from getting worse!

We STILL have next to no

https://twitter.com/SGriffin_Lab/status/1519478454504337408?s=20

investment into the future of clean air, no public awareness of viral prevalence (SARS-CoV2, and its' mates), little ability to act altruistically because testing has evaporated and supported isolation remains a figment of most people's imagination...there's nothing safeguarding

our workplaces, schools, universities, public transport, shops or other public spaces, no masks, mis/dis-information is rife and anti-vax narratives now echo round the house of commons thanks to certain feckless mockeries of public representatives...

Most people think the COVID

pandemic is over, that it's now just a cold...some even think it was made up and conspiracy abounds wrt how it has been used to poison/brainwash/reset/kill/or fool us into electing Mr Gates as Emperor of the the planet...🙄

Out of sight, out of mind, ignorance is bliss, and to

do anything outside the realms of "2019 normal" is some kind of crime against humanity.
Some of the press lambast the notion that an emergency resulted in extreme measures, they bash those responsible for implementing policy (rightly, weirdly) because their politics took priority

over public health, one rule/party/opticians appointment for them, quite another for everyone else...but they neglect to mention, ironically, that the eagerness to move on/ignore and reluctance to enact sensible, timely measures, actually resulted in more extreme restrictions...

Perhaps the worst thing is that the shoddy justification for ignoring population-scale risk, for assuming that vulnerable people would jolly well just have to get on with it, for disregarding long COVID and other morbidity, and for allowing children to be repeatedly reinfected by

a virus that NOBODY on this planet fully understands, is actually in a much worse state than it was when the "strategy" was announced...not to mention that our beloved #NHS has been brought well and truly even closer to the brink than I ever thought possible...
A strategy that

relied upon vaccination has systematically failed to protect the young, and, along with testing, CMDUs and everything else, is being wound down in the way that roadies dismantle a stage after a concert. I won't go into vaccine strategies, I'll run out of tweets, suffice to say...

The fact is, there is SO little provision for the vulnerable, most of all the #forgotten500K with profound immune deficiency, that many are completely trapped between concern for their own/family's safety and the MASSIVE peer pressure from literally everyone else moving on...

this isn't the public's fault, as my thread from last year says, we SHOULD mainly focus on our individual risk, but this relies upon adequate provision of public health...

There seems a UK-centric aversion to prophylactic therapies that might actually allow vulnerable folks to

take more risks...it took SO long to appraise #Evusheld that SARS-CoV2 eventually outpaced its use...of course, other countries used this to its best and achieved a period of relative solace for their most vulnerable...
Our monoclonal therapies are dropping like flies, and even

if we could overcome some limitations by increased dosing, nobody wants to pay for it...how much do ICU beds cost again?
So, the idea is to provide therapeutics to prevent severe disease...but we're dismantling the CMDUs, plus @NICEComms are proposing to only keep Paxlovid as an

acute therapy...not too many options there, esp with the ritonavir issue...there are one or two other agents in the pipeline, but WHERE are the combination trials? How long before monotherapy breeds resistance as is so easily done in culture? This is one comparison to influenza

that IS valid!
Where is the investment in further research into better vaccines and therapeutics? Have we not learned the lesson of having poor pandemic preparedness yet?
Of course we're all tired of this, but I can assure you that the vulnerable are more so...plus they can't yet

take a rest. They can't even enter a hospital safely to access treatment because people still haven't grasped such confounding concepts as airborne, aerosol and RIDICULOUSLY INFECTIOUS VIRUS...

getyarn.io/yarn-clip/289f…

Imagine being the only family who's kid can't attend school, who can't take the bus, can't have a family Xmas, and can't "get back to normal". Many people have decided to take the risks, of course mental health is critical, but many simply can't.
When will it dawn on those who

dictate policy that to ignore a pandemic, to do nothing to minimise prevalence, to allow FIVE waves per year, just serves to prolong the madness...?

So, as you can probably tell, this thread is more of a rant than any kind of sensible science-based blurb, and I'm not quite sure

where it will end...but I implore those currently, or soon to be in a position of power to listen and care for the millions of people that remain at risk. "living with COVID" has meant ~30K haven't since spring 2022, and millions more have to endure the long term consequences. If

nothing else, recognise the impact on our workforce, our NHS, and the future implications for our kids...

I expect I'll get a load of plonkas saying I'm saying this to sound important etc., well, whatever, all you really do is show you're incapable of walking in other people's

shoes, or acting outside of your own interests...plus, I'll hazard a guess you'll have an anonymous account anyway! 🤖🤖🤖

Finally, a huge nod to those that really DO care, and support others even though they have their own struggles during such times.
@LongCovidKids @cv_cev

@LongCovidAdvoc @LongCovidSOS and so many others...🙏🙏🙏