UK COVID INQUIRY - CVFπππ
@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).
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We need to understand airborne transmission in order to make all indoor environments safer for everyone, and especially for Clinically Vulnerable people.
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The need for Clinically Vulnerable people to have:
Safety
Support
& Status
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1. Safety
"Clinically Vulnerable people cannot reliably make themselves SAFE in indoor settings. The responsibility fall on those who design and manage the environment."
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"In the workplace the absence of enforceable right to adjustments which control the risk of infection continues to leave Clinically Vulnerable people exposed to danger."
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We challenged the idea that people simply fearful, but had legitimate concerns.
Prof Nazroo
"The two go together. So if you are Clinically Vulnerable then you are concerned about your heath, and if you don't have adequate protections those concerns will be amplified."
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Powerful witness, @SamSmithHiggins from @CovidBereaved Cymru said
We were told you can't visit in hospital, well why not? Because, actually if you have the right ventilation, you'd have the right masks - there we no issues whatsoever!"
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"The protection against airborne pathogens has to take place, upstream - at source - in the indoor environments where they might spread... and this has to happen through legal protections. Because there is no downstream protection from lawyers who can sue on your behalf."
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Challenges accessing mental health support.
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CVF's @lara_wong:
"The failure to provide even minimal accommodations, such as support for those who mask or outdoor events, was exclusionary."
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Stigma and hostility
Rivka Gottlieb from CBFFJ "There are ongoing issues today that could be so easily addressed:
π Wider access to vaccination
π¨ Legislation around air quality
π· Mask wearing in healthcare settings
that would protect the vulnerable."
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2. Support
"Reopening was not experienced as freedom."
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3. Status
"CVF requests that the Inquiry recommends an important step to protect those people:
the ammendment of the Equality Act to include clinical vulnerability as a protected characteristic"
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Conclusion
"Before the pandemic, Clinically Vulnerable people were invisible, but they must never be invisible again."
πππ Please do share your thanks (below) to our wonderful legal team. π
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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.
π¨ 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.
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But the proposed COβ thresholds are too high. 800ppm should be the upper limit - not 1500ppm. By 1500ppm, air is already significantly rebreathed. Thatβs not a precautionary standard for children, let alone those at higher risk.
If weβve learned anything from the pandemic, itβs that minimum compliance is not the same as safety. #ClinicallyVulnerable pupils cannot βchooseβ lower exposure if the baseline standard is poor.
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We would encourage you to watch @lara_wong 's inquiry evidence in full.
However, out amazing team have clipped these extracts for you!
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CVF's Survey
In the summer of 2025, CVF gathered in depth survey evidence about the impacts of the pandemic on CV households - which has now been shared multiple times to inquiry experts and others.
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People were commonly told that
"They should hurry up and die so that they could get their lives back."
π¨ Profs Herrick & @Azeem_Majeed on clinical vulnerability
We are grateful that data collected by CVF (last year) was used by @covidinquiryuk to highlight some of the ongoing impacts faced by Clinically Vulnerable people.
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You can have a sneak (advanced) peak at @lara_wong's witness statement on behalf of Clinically Vulnerable Families...
Many and varied consequences (relating to mental health) were identified. 2/
Long term mental health impacts persist to this day.
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Don't scroll past without π + β»οΈ... π
πππ
- Can you help us to help you?
If you value our work at the Cβvid Inquiry and beyond, your continued support is vital.
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It is hard to explain how much effort has gone in over the past few years to raise understanding and awareness of issues amplified the emerge of Cβvid.
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We have participated in NICE as stakeholders and the inquiry as Core Participants (as the only group representing Clinically Vulnerable people).
ππ We have collected evidence as data and thousands of π¬ impact statements from people.
Their response dodges the point.
Because the problem really wasnβt that βI didnβt get the jokeβ.
The problem is who the joke is aimed at and what it encourages most people to laugh at.
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If the punchline is βPPE / precautions = anxious / ridiculousβ then people who still need precautions (Clinically Vulnerable people) are the collateral damage.
So it is not about βoffenceβ but creating stigma.