Infectious diseases

Class resentment has been a feature of the pandemic since day one, when those who left the city for their country retreats were instantly hated by everyone who followed them on Instagram. It’s no surprise, three months in, that suburban communities should direct some of that mocking disdain towards the city residents who have always disparaged them. The surge of adrenalin that comes from hating Ellen DeGeneres or David Geffen or the residents of Manhattan’s upper middle class neighbourhoods might be a diversion from blaming the clowns who got us here, but it at least offers some recreational relief. And it’s better than taking it out on our families (again). … [Read more...] about New Yorkers once sneered at the suburbs. Now the boot is on the other foot

“If parents have questions, if they don’t go in this outlandish direction in those conspiracies, and they have concerns and they asked their physicians, that’s perfectly legitimate,” Omar said. He said the onus will be on health care providers and doctors to not treat the skeptics with contempt, but rather to answer people’s questions with respect. … [Read more...] about Another threat looming in the fight against coronavirus: anti-vaxxers

“This is just too early,” said Sir David King, a former government chief scientific adviser and the chairman of Independent Sage. “We know that … opening up schools has the potential to raise R by up to 0.3. So we are really concerned that the level of infectivity across the country as a whole is too high to open schools.” … [Read more...] about English schools’ return could lead to new surge, experts warn

With budget deficit now predicted to reach 17% of GDP, Britain now faces a double humiliation: the world’s highest coronavirus death rate and the worst resulting economic collapse. Johnson likes blood-curdling “worst-case scenarios”. Mine is that this will prove to be Britain’s most catastrophic and costly policy failure in modern times. If so, I hope a memorial plaque to the demise of responsible Toryism is fixed to a certain Barnard Castle tree. … [Read more...] about Britain’s double shame: coronavirus deaths and economic collapse

The question is: will any of us obey it? Someone calls up, tells you you have had contact with an infected person, but won’t tell you who it was. It is no different from the system with STIs, they say, except it is really different, because you could normally at least narrow down who had given you gonorrhoea, or if you couldn’t, you could take your quarantine on the chin. You can get a test, but even if it is negative, you still have to stay in isolation. You might think you have had coronavirus, you might even have tested positive for it in the past but, building in the uncertainties around immunity, that makes no difference. … [Read more...] about Track and trace is no laughing matter, so don’t turn it into a farce