Two countries.

Two charts.

A very similar (and concerning) trend.

…………..

Can you think of anything that happened in 2020 which is still affecting huge swathes of people on an ongoing basis and which may help explain this worrying trend?

/1 Image
If you haven’t figured it out yet, here’s a little clue… 🔎

/2 Image
Still not worked it out?

Here’s another clue from Jim Reed, the BBC’s health reporter… 

/3
The government say they want to fix the benefits crisis…

…but to fix the benefits crisis, they’re going to have to fix the long-term sickness crisis…

…and to fix the long-term sickness crisis, they’re going to have to fix the Long Covid crisis…

/4
…and to fix the Long Covid crisis, they’re going to have to stop ignoring the highly infectious disease which causes it…

ie. COVID.

Every reinfection increases the risk of Long Covid.

And the best way to prevent Long Covid is to prevent Covid infections & reinfections.

/5 Image
Since Covid is predominantly spread via airborne aerosols which spread through a room like smoke and can linger in the air even after the infectious person has left the room, the best way to prevent Covid infections is to use mitigations against AIRBORNE transmission.

/6
Airborne mitigations which would help to reduce Covid transmission include:

1️⃣ Wearing high quality FFP2/3 masks, particularly in HEALTHCARE SETTINGS where the risk of coming into contact with an infected person is high.

/7 Image
2️⃣ Improving indoor air quality through ventilation and air filtration.

Again, this is particularly important in HEALTHCARE SETTINGS where the risk of airborne transmission is very high…

/8
…and also in SCHOOLS where children are crammed into poorly-ventilated classrooms, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with up to 29 other kids for around 6 hours a day, 5 days a week…

…where parents are told it’s perfectly ok to send their kids in with obvious Covid symptoms.

/9
We have the tools to reduce the spread of COVID…

…which, in turn, would reduce the number of people developing Long Covid.

Many recommendations have been voiced by experts at the Covid Inquiry about reducing airborne transmission.

So why aren’t we DOING it?!

/End

• • •

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

Keep Current with Cat in the Hat 🐈‍⬛ 🎩 🇬🇧

Cat in the Hat 🐈‍⬛ 🎩 🇬🇧 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 @_CatintheHat

May 15
🚨“Why COVID could be to blame for the rise in deadly meningitis”

“When people regularly catch Meningitis B bacteria, they usually live harmlessly in the nose.”

“The problem is that COVID may have made our cells more susceptible to the bacteria.”

dailymail.com/health/article… x.com/dailymail/stat…Image
A growing number of scientists have been sounding the alarm recently about how repeated Covid infections may be damaging our immune systems…

bmj.com/content/390/bm…Image
This is not a particularly new idea; it’s been discussed in scientific circles for years already.

Back in early 2023, the World Health Network (@TheWHN) published this article which summarised the latest research on Covid’s impact on the immune system.

whn.global/scientific/cov…Image
Read 9 tweets
May 14
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK

A WHO representative was interviewed on GMB this morning.

She said that if someone self-isolating at home starts to feel sick, they should immediately remove themselves from company & start wearing a mask…

…but that’s NOT what the WHO guidance says… 🧵
The guidance is clear that those self-isolating at home should NOT wait for symptoms before taking precautions.

For the ENTIRE 42-day quarantine, they should:
▪️Avoid contact with other household members
▪️Remain in a separate room
▪️If contact is unavoidable, wear a respirator Image
🚨Clinically Vulnerable Families (@cv_cev) have issued a press release calling for the government to immediately publish the full operational & clinical arrangements for passengers & close contacts linked to the MV Hondius outbreak.

Transparency is essential at this point. Image
Read 13 tweets
May 11
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK:

I’ve just listened to the health update from the US Nebraska Health Officials 🇺🇸

A few points of interest:

1/ in addition to the US passenger who tested positive & the one showing symptoms, it seems there is ANOTHER passenger who may have tested positive.
2/ Passengers currently in the Nebraska quarantine unit will spend a few days there being assessed.

If they remain symptom free & have support available at home to isolate safely, they’ll have the choice to complete the 42-day isolation either at home or in the quarantine unit.
3/ When asked about the US passengers who left the ship in St Helena on 24 Apr (at the same time at the Dutch woman who was symptomatic & sadly died on 26 Apr), they confirmed that these passengers have all been traced & are being monitored - but seems they’re NOT self-isolating.
Read 10 tweets
May 10
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK

Following my thread yesterday which criticised aspects of the WHO’s strategy, I’m pleased to see they’ve done a 180° turn in the updated guidance published today:

who.int/docs/default-s…

EVERYONE from the ship will now be treated as HIGH-RISK contacts…

🧵 x.com/_catinthehat/s…Image
…and ALL high-risk contacts will now be required to ISOLATE in a designated facility or at home (depending on each country’s capabilities) for 42 days from last known exposure…

…and for the MV Hondius passengers & crew, the last day of exposure is the date of disembarkation. Image
So for the passengers & crew leaving the ship today, the clock for their 42 days in isolation starts ticking TODAY…

…and their isolation & monitoring will end on 21 June. Image
Read 7 tweets
May 9
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK 🧵

Following the WHO press briefing, I wanted to compile a thread with the key points.

1/ ISOLATION OF PASSENGERS

Concerningly, it seems the WHO are NOT recommending to isolate cruise ship passengers (even high-risk contacts) UNLESS they develop symptoms.
Just to quickly recap, it has been confirmed that the passengers & crew (including the 30 who disembarked on 24 April in St Helena) come from a total of 28 different countries.

The full breakdown of countries for both passengers 🟥 & crew 🟦 is detailed below ⬇️ Image
When the 146 people remaining on the ship are repatriated to their home countries, each country will adopt their own local protocols.

However, the WHO are only recommending:

▪️SYMPTOMATIC cases ➡️ isolation
▪️ASYMPTOMATIC cases ➡️ monitoring
Read 41 tweets
May 5
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK ON CRUISE

“Human-to-human transmission suspected on board hantavirus cruise ship, WHO says”

▪️7 cases identified so far.

▪️3 people (2 Dutch, 1 German) have tragically died.

▪️1 Briton is in intensive care in South Africa.

edition.cnn.com/2026/05/05/afr… x.com/cnn/status/205…Image
The exact Hantavirus has not yet been identified, but given the ship departed from Argentina, it’s a distinct possibility it’s the Andes Virus.

This strain is known to be transmissible between humans & previously caused superspreader events in Argentina.

nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.105…Image
Below are further details about the Andes Virus superspreader events in Argentina (in 2018):

▪️ Transmission event: Birthday Party
5 guests infected
Symptom onset 17-24 days later

▪️ Transmission event: Funeral/Wake
10 guests infected
Symptom onset 14-40 days later Image
Read 50 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!

:(