Clinically Vulnerable Families πŸ’™πŸ’œπŸ’— Profile picture
May 7, 2023 β€’ 11 tweets β€’ 4 min read β€’ Read on X
🏡 THE COVID CYCLE ♻️

As we navigate our way through the post-Covid world, it's important to consider the link between infections and outcomes.

1/🧡

TLDR :
🚫 Try to avoid catching / spreading infections
πŸ’¨ Clean air will help THE COVID CYCLE   Diagram: ...
While you may well start off healthy, anyone can become Clinically Vulnerable at some point in their life, making them more susceptible to severe infections.

Take it from us, it isn't particularly fun - and frequently, our lives feel less valued.

2/ Diagram :  Healthy person  ...
Covid infections or repeat infections of healthy people can lead to Long Covid*, where people experience prolonged symptoms and conditions including: fatigue, brain fog and respiratory issues.

* Some data suggests that up to 1 in 10 infections result in long-term symptoms.

3/ Diagram :  Healthy person  ...
Also, people with Long Covid can become Clinically Vulnerable if they acquire conditions including:

🫁 Chronic respiratory conditions
πŸ«€ Cardiovascular diseases
πŸ’‰ Diabetes
🧠 Neurological complications

You might have noticed people who have developed a persistent cough.

4/ Diagram:  Healthy with arro...
According to the final ONS Covid Survey data, Clinically Vulnerable people have a 5.4x increased risk of Long Covid following Covid infections.

πŸ’™ Catching Covid isn't healthy
πŸ’œ It doesn't promote 'natural immunity'
πŸ’— Living with Covid = constant reinfection

6/ Diagram:  Healthy with arro...
Vaccination has been a crucial tool in breaking the Covid cycle and protecting lives.

Highly vaccinated countries are experiencing lower mortality despite the virus not actually being milder.

7/
However, we mustn't forget that Covid continues to claim far too many lives.

Anyone can be at risk, and we are all 3 years older and 3 years more vulnerable.

8/ Diagram  Clinically Vulnera...
To further break the Covid cycle, we need clean air as Covid spreads in aerosols.

We mustn't simply accept ~6 peaks a year as new variants continue to rip through the global community. It places a continuous burden on struggling health services. It is not 'flu.

HT - @jneill
9/ Image
No one wants to see more people suffering from Long Covid or losing their lives.

While the Covid cycle may be here to stay, we can't simply accept current rates of infection and reinfection.

10/
Going forward, we should consider the following:

πŸ’¨ #CleanAir
😷 #WearAMask in high-risk, poorly ventilated indoor settings inc. healthcare
πŸ₯„ Testing / isolation if symptomatic
🌍 πŸ’‰Supporting equitable access to vaccines around the world

11/
...and for anyone who thinks that young children can't or shouldn't be tested, there are saliva 'lollypop' tests that are accurate and trouble-free.

Parents in our Facebook group have been very happy with them.

12/ Image

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More from @cv_cev

Mar 29
The government just published its Pandemic Preparedness Strategy.

TLDR: Some welcome commitments inc. on ventilation. But Clinically Vulnerable people are still not clearly defined or automatically protected, and the prioritisation framework won't arrive until 2027.

1/🧡 Department of Health & Social Care  Pandemic Preparedness Strategy: building our capabilities  Published 25 March 2026
What's new?

Published 25 March 2026, this is the UK's first major pandemic strategy since Covid.

It covers all 4 nations, sets out 12 principles and detailed action plans to 2030, backed by around Β£1 billion of investment.

But what about the detail...?

2/
They know another pandemic is coming... and epidemics are also a risk.

The question is:
Will Clinically Vulnerable families be protected when it does?

- This document raises the question more than it answers it.

3/ While pandemics of this scale are rare, major epidemics are far more common and milder  pandemics still cause significant damage. A future pandemic is a certainty - we just don’t  know when it will happen or what will cause it. It would most likely be caused by a virus,  though it could also be caused by bacteria or fungi. It could be spread by one or more of  the routes of infection transmission, with the 5 main transmission routes being: β€’ respiratory β€’ oral β€’ blood or sexual β€’ touch 1 Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and DHSC’s DHSC and ONS: direct and indirect health impacts  o...
Read 20 tweets
Mar 25
πŸ“‰ Kent MenB outbreak

⚠️East Kent Trust failed to report their first case for 2 days⚠️

Here's what you need to know.
TLDR: Peaked 13th March. No new cases since - with reporting delays, but that's even better news than it sounds.
1/🧡 πŸ‘‡ @laurabundock @SkyNews
THE OUTBREAK IS DECLINING but understates how well that's going. πŸ“‰

The earliest case became unwell on 9th March, with the latest on 16th March, and the peak was 13th March.

2/
Cases take time to be confirmed and reported.

The fact that nothing new has surfaced in the data as of 23rd March - despite the reporting lag - means the real-world situation is almost certainly better than the numbers show.

3/ Image of bar chart  Figure 2. Cases of invasive meningococcal disease in Kent outbreak, by case category, outbreak bacterial subtype: serotype P1.12-1,16-183, attendance at Club Chemistry, and date of onset (data as of 23 March 2026)  6  5-  4  Number of cases  3  2  1-  0  07 Mar  09 Mar  11 Mar  13 Mar  15 Mar  17 Mar  19 Mar  21 Mar  23 Mar  Date of onset  Confirmed outbreak strain  Confirmed  Probable  Attended Club Chemistry  Includes 17 Confirmed - outbreak strain and 3 Confirmed and 2 Probable case(s). Excludes 1 Probable case with missing date information.
Read 15 tweets
Mar 18
Meningitis
* Important thread for those who prefer balanced and factual information *

In order to understand risk we need to break down a few things....

🦠Risk from the bacteria
πŸ’™πŸ’œπŸ’— Individual risk
πŸŽ“ Environmental risks
1/
The Kent outbreak is predominantly MenB (Group B). This is a serious infection - and potentially an adapted strain - investigations are ongoing...

Bacterial meningitis is rare but more severe than viral, and up to 1 in 10 cases of bacterial meningitis in the UK is fatal.

2/
MenB isn't new. There are around 300 cases of MenB per year in the UK, even with vaccination programmes.

What's unusual is the cluster - multiple cases linked to a single location in a short window. It has now spread to a student at a second university in Canterbury, Kent.
3/
Read 9 tweets
Mar 5
UK COVID INQUIRY - CVFπŸ’™πŸ’œπŸ’—
@AdamWagner1 Closing Submissions

The Covid Inquiry has good ventilation protocols (as advised by CVF at the start of the Inquiry) including HEPA filters.

Under 1000ppm is therefore the safe threshold ( but without it would be under 800ppm).

1/
We need to understand airborne transmission in order to make all indoor environments safer for everyone, and especially for Clinically Vulnerable people.

2/
The need for Clinically Vulnerable people to have:

Safety
Support
& Status

3/
Read 14 tweets
Mar 1
🚨COVID INQUIRY ROUND UP (Wk2)

This week saw CVF's evidence & organisations representing: disability, domestic abuse, faith, migrants, homeless, prisons, local government.

Expert evidence focused on: later life, LGBTQ+, race and gender inequalities (Dr Clare Wenham, below)

1/
EXPERT RACIAL INEQUALITIES

Prof Laia BΓ©cares discussed the risks in multigenerational households where there were keyworkers and children in schools.

2/
EXPERT LATER LIFE
Prof @JamesNazroo

CVF were concerned that many older people, who were at high risk, were not supported to shield - which included advice on how to stay safe, as well as food deliveries and community outreach.

3/
Read 15 tweets
Feb 26
🚨 NEW DfE GUIDANCE
- VENTILATION & AIR QUALITY -

Clean air matters - especially for #ClinicallyVulnerable children, staff and families. This is an important recognition that airborne transmission is preventable.

1/ Image
But the proposed COβ‚‚ thresholds are too high. 800ppm should be the upper limit - not 1500ppm. By 1500ppm, air is already significantly rebreathed. That’s not a precautionary standard for children, let alone those at higher risk.



2/gov.uk/government/pub…
If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that minimum compliance is not the same as safety. #ClinicallyVulnerable pupils cannot β€œchoose” lower exposure if the baseline standard is poor.

3/
Read 8 tweets

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