So child had a letter from school to warn of her attendance ; 😡 after missing 6 days , all of which were because she was sick with respiratory virus and we didn’t want to spread to other children

There isn’t an epidemic of absence, there is absence because of epidemics 2/ viral shedding and contagiousness with flu is high for at least 3 days (can be contagious 7days or more)

So if a child catches a respiratory virus just twice then they are at risk of ‘low attendance’ for staying at home to recover & to get other children sick

This is a bad & incorrect take @Telegraph

already been picked up by anti-vaxxers

Vaccines have saved millions of lives globally

If excess deaths 'remain high', they would have been much, much higher without vaccines

Vaccines are safe, harms are rare

telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/0… 2/ The study in @BMJPublicHealth

doesnt draw the conclusion, as stated in news article, that 'covid vaccines may have helped FUEL rise in excess deaths'

Rather, it suggests that excess deaths 'remain high' DESPITE the use of vaccines (&other measures)bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e0…

WOW-Official guidance on Covid is SO DIFFERENT in 🇺🇸 & 🇬🇧
🧵

TLDR: UK less directive & less cautious

🇺🇸
any COVID-like symptoms: Isolate & test
If +ve: isolate 5-10 days & wear N95 mask 10 days

🇬🇧
If fever or v unwell, stay home till well
If +ve try stay at home 5 days 2/US CDC:

If you suspect COVID, isolate & test

Isolate until rapid/LTF results (if -ve, end isolation)

If +ve

1. If no symptoms/symptoms improving ➡️ Isolate 5 days

2. Moderate/severe symptoms ➡️isolate 10days severe: also check doc/take viral test

cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

🚨 Our final report on #COVID19 and public experiences published👇



What have we learned?

Trust the public
Lack of trust in government harmed compliance
Rules needed to be clear & consistent
Ppl needed more financial support
Misinformation=big problemswansea.ac.uk/press-office/n… 2/ Brief thread on what we have found so far. As the @covidinquiryuk is ongoing

...& lessons for future

Report here:

Also, work forms basis of peer review publications, inc:





psyarxiv.com/e56cn
bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/7/e…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

🚨Our MAJOR new @royalsociety report out TODAY

Evidence shows COVID measures together = EFFECTIVE

Key findings:

➡️Distancing/lockdowns=MOST EFFECTIVE measure

😷 FACEMASKS consistently found to be EFFECTIVE

➡️Strong evidence for contact tracing apps

royalsociety.org/topics-policy/… 2/n

✈️Comprehensive border control policies reduce, but dont eliminate, infections entering countries.

🪟 ventilation did reduce transmission in particular settings (but hard to quantify)

📣communication helped ensure high adherence, but trust & clarity = key barriers

Can aspartame cause cancer?

a brief 🧵 on the history of a recurring public health controversy

TDLR

this is a classic case of the social amplification of risk

Need to communicate the gist - 'the dose makes the poison' (no-one consumes enough aspartame) 2/ Had to go back to my grad school notes on this one, for a research project on aspartame and risk communication. ie. *this is not a new controversy*

Aspartame has been controversial ever since its accidental discovery by James Schlatter in 1965 in his - drug research

Brief 🧵 about why Andrew Bridgen is a classic, if high profile, example of how covid misinformation has pervaded part of the public

Firstly - nothing screams scientific credibility like a blog authored by ‘Tyler Durden’

Bridgen cited this in his tweet 2/ the disgraceful link between vaccines and the holocaust is not a new thing

Antivaxxers have been pushing this narrative since the start of the pandemic

@GYamey has bravely condemned this & a general link between covid denial and antisemitism
medpagetoday.com/publichealthpo…

🚨New @ons analysis shows that in 2021 the more children vaccinated in a school the lower the #covid rate!

➡️New covid infections were 40% LOWER in schools where >60% pupils had 1st jab compared to schools where <20% had 1st jab.

Vaccines for children are safe and effective. May be of interest to many (including @SGriffin_Lab @dgurdasani1 @chrischirp @SusanMichie @chris_salt @Parents_Utd @LongCovidKids ). Data and analysis here:

ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

Even *if* COVID was 'just another' virus (its not BTW), then this is still a problem. Here's why 🧵

In short, having ('just') ANOTHER virus that hospitalises many and infects many, many more ON TOP of existing respiratory viruses, is a big burden on healthcare 2/n the classic epidemiology bathtub metaphor may be useful here. Lets think of the bathtub as NHS (healthcare system) capacity ... adding covid to the mix, is like rapidly opening the tap up - or rather, like turning an extra tap on.