I don't think he's that at all. He does an extremely good job at presenting relevant peer reviewed covid science papers to the general public in an understandable form without media frenzy or government bias. As I worked in science education I do have some admiration for his abilities, it's a shame the media don't share his impartiality.
Not sounding very good. From the BBC Government must act before Christmas if numbers rise fast - Farrar More from Sir Jeremy Farrar, who says Omicron data could mean the government will have to bring in draconian restrictions before Christmas. He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There's a paper coming out today. If it does show transmission is continuing to rise, and hospitalisations in London and across the rest of the country are starting to rise, the government will have to act before Christmas." He says, amid the current uncertainty about severity and the broader impact on society, it is reasonable to pause for 24 to 36 hours until we see that data. If the figures show a rise in cases and hospitalisations "the government will have to act in a more draconian way than might have been possible than had they acted a few days ago".
At some point, we are going to have to "ride out" one of these infection waves. If transmission is that rapid and prevalent you are not going to stop cases without steps that are virtually impossible to enforce in a liberal democracy. Forget self isolation and testing. Treat it like a bad cold and you are either protected by vaccination, by immunity caused by catching it or in hospital. We cannot continue with our present policy because we simply can't afford it and the damage caused to physical health, mental health, businesses and education by lockdown increases with every wave. I don't buy the "short lockdown" or circuit breaker. It's political impossible to open up when cases are increasing. Rant over.
I suspect if Omicron hadn't come along that's exactly what we'd be doing (aside from the isolating bit). Its one thing riding a wave of a known varient in summer when NHS capacity is lower, its another thing entirely risking a new varient in the winter when the NHS is more stretched. If the Government keep everything open and they get it wrong, not only could a lot of people get seriously ill (or die) with Covid, but there will be fewer staff to treat other illnesses or injuries, meaning more people will also die of other things. Its not a decision I'd want to make.
It's the self isolating that is reducing the "personpower" of the NHS. I was at Scarborough hospital yesterday and, at that time, not a single person had been admitted with Omicron. Several people had come into the hospital for other reasons and had then been diagnosed with covid. Obviously, I am not privy to real time national data but we must break the lockdown cycle. If not now, then soon.
85 in hospital with Omicron, some of those went in for something else and only found out whilst there. Edit. and now I went to google to check if that 85 is uk or just england. a simple question google seems reluctant to answer,
Maybe Lockdown the unvaccinated. Deny them access to to anywhere indoors, any shops, sports events, concerts, pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, planes, trains & busses etc until such a time that they are vaccinated fully.
I don't personally think its a bad idea for medical staff to stay at home if they could possibly pass on a virus of any type.
That's fine If you have enough staff to cope. Military maxim "He who defends everything, defends nothing"
A lot of the unvaccinated already have immunity through prevuios infection as were already nearly 2 years into this.
Agree with this. The virus is with us forever, and will constantly mutate. Are we locking down next year when the Omega variant appears, or the year after with the double-Delta variant, (maybe they'll call that Covid-23)? Estimates are that 95% of the population have Covid antibodies so I don't see how we can expect immunity to get much better. Apparently the last major coronavirus outbreak occurred 130 years ago and that's still with us. It causes the common cold.
They've just announced that in London, nine in every eleven patients in intensive care is unvaccinated, their immunity doesn't seen to be all that effective.
Can we not just stop the usual suspect from posting on this thread before they get yet another one shut down due to their inability to not be a bellend
