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."
6/
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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π Calling all UK COβ monitor owners
AND any helpful UK voters
PLEASE REPOST β»οΈ β€οΈ and tag others!
π Can you *please* help us at the local elections next Thursday?
- Even if you don't own one, we still need your help!
1/π§΅
<Read our new article - next post>
Last year, your evidence helped us change the Electoral Commission guidance for assisting Clinically Vulnerable voters - which has improved safety for everyone.
This year, we NEED YOUR HELP - to audit whether the guidance has worked. π
The UK has not shared data from 2025. But for CV people it is much worse:
2024 JCVI data showed that vaccines reduced hospitalisations for Clinically Vulnerable people by 45%.
They published it!
...then removed millions with health conditions from eligibility!
2/
45% may sound lower.
But if your baseline is 2-12x more likely to be hospitalised from Covid, a 45% reduction in risk prevents 2-12x more hospitalisations per dose.
The JCVI removed high-risk groups on cost-effectiveness grounds.
But the cost-effectiveness case is stronger!
3/
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/π§΅
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.
β οΈEast Kent Trust failed to report their first case for 2 daysβ οΈ
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/π§΅ π @laurabundock @SkyNews
THE OUTBREAK IS DECLINING but understates how well that's going. π
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.
Meningitis
* Important thread for those who prefer balanced and factual information *
In order to understand risk we need to break down a few things....
π¦ Risk from the bacteria
πππ Individual risk
π 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/
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.