Hans Lovejoy, editor
Scientists have warned that now the UK has come out of lockdown on ‘freedom day’ (July 19), it will lead to ‘a generation left with chronic health problems and disability, the personal and economic impacts of which might be felt for decades to come’.
A Lancet article from July 7 is titled ‘Mass infection is not an option: we must do more to protect our young’, and is co-authored by 15 university academics. Additionally it is supported by around 112 medics and academics around the world.
They write that ‘An end to the pandemic through population immunity requires enough of the population to be immune to prevent exponential growth of SARS-CoV-2.’
The authors cite UK Government data, which ‘show that as of July 4, 2021, 51 per cent of the total UK population have been fully vaccinated and 68 per cent have been partially vaccinated’.
The authors accuse the UK government of ‘embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment’ and say of children, ‘The root cause of educational disruption is transmission, not isolation’.
‘The link between infection and death might have been weakened, but it has not been broken, and infection can still cause substantial morbidity in both acute and long-term illness’.
The course of action, they say, is that the government ‘should delay complete re-opening until everyone, including adolescents, have been offered vaccination and uptake is high, and until mitigation measures, especially adequate ventilation (through investment in CO2 monitors and air filtration devices) and spacing (eg, by reducing class sizes), are in place in schools.
‘Until then’, they say, ‘public health measures must include those called for by WHO (universal mask wearing in indoor spaces, even for those vaccinated), the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ventilation and air filtration), and Independent SAGE (effective border quarantine; test, trace isolate, and support)’.
‘This will ensure that everyone is protected and make it much less likely that we will need further restrictions or lockdowns in the autumn’.
Meanwhile, PM Boris Johnson, while admitting cases are rising, adds if the country doesn’t open up now, ‘then when?’.
Ironically, he has reportedly had the virus previously, yet according to the BBC, is again self-isolating after contact with the virus-infected Health Secretary, Sajid Javid.
The only comfort that can be taken from this is that it’s not just Australia that suffers from a bumbling, incompetent politicians.
With Sydney’s cases yet to be contained, it appears that the fluid nature of the virus is looking more and more like a threat to the next generation.
Will we learn from the UK experiment, now they have emerged from months of iso?
Please stay COVID-19 stafe, peeps.
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