Search Result for 'asymptomatic'

by Dr Clare Craig FRCPath and Jonathan Engler MBChB LLB Abstract Evidence of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from patients who remain asymptomatic (as opposed to pre-symptomatic) is found in a body of numerous meta-analyses. Evidence of asymptomatic transmission has been based on only a handful of instances which themselves are questionable. The existence of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from asymptomatic individuals has become an accepted truth but the evidence for this phenomenon being anything other than mistaken interpretation of false positive test results is weak. Examination of the underlying data from the most frequently-cited such meta-analyses reveals that the conclusions are based on a surprisingly small number of cases (six in total globally) and, moreover, the possibility that they are all coincidental contacts with false positive results cannot be ruled out. Transmission which is pre-symptomatic is rare and represents a negligible risk to the population. It is questionable therefore whether any of the extensive testing, tracing, isolation and lockdown policies have delivered any worthwhile benefit over and above strategies which seek to advise symptomatic individuals to self-isolate. Introduction Many of the world’s economies have been seriously damaged on the basis of alleged evidence that people with no symptoms can spread SARS-CoV-2. It is essential that all such claimed evidence is carefully scrutinised because of the immense and ongoing impact of that claim ...

Have yourself a Merry Little Lockdown The Prime Minister warned yesterday that he could not rule out a new lockdown and we do appear to be heading that way. The Telegraph has more. Boris Johnson has put the country on notice that a third lockdown could be on its way in January as several Government scientific advisers warned restrictions could need to be tougher than before. While the Prime Minister said he hoped to avoid joining Wales and Northern Ireland in imposing new lockdowns after Christmas, he warned that “the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks”. Speaking on a trip to Bolton, he also signalled that decisions on COVID-19 restrictions in the new year would depend on how people approach the five-day window when social distancing rules are relaxed...It came as new estimates released by Sage showed the R number has risen from 0.9-1.0 to between 1.1 and 1.2, suggesting the virus is at risk of growing exponentially again. In a statement, the Sage sub-committee SPI-M also warned that modelling suggesting that "additional mixing" during the Christmas period may have a "large impact on post-Christmas prevalence", including a "slight shift towards a higher proportion of cases in older and more vulnerable age groups." One idea for avoiding Lockdown 3 appears to be calling it ...

It turns out that the original 'asymptomatic spreader' whose case was widely reported in the medical literature actually had symptoms and took medicine. Yet the paper claiming otherwise has never been retracted.

Today's update on Lockdown Sceptics is here. Includes an original piece by Clare Craig on the effectiveness of a single dose of the vaccine, and a chart of deaths in Scotland from 2010-2020. Can you spot the pandemic year?

In 2020 anyone claiming Covid was like influenza was branded a conspiracy theorist. Yet now we hear demands for masks and social distancing for flu. But asymptomatic spread is a myth for flu as well, says Dr Clare Craig.

Lockdown 2.0 to End in Tiers Boris is expected to announce his post-lockdown Covid plans on Monday. The Telegraph has the details. England’s national lockdown will end on Dec 2nd but be replaced by a new harsher three-tier system, Boris Johnson will announce on Monday.More areas will be placed into the higher tiers than before the lockdown after warnings from SAGE scientists that the previous levels of restrictions were not strong enough and a tougher regional approach was needed.The Telegraph can also reveal that everywhere from factories and offices to towns and cities will be blitzed with mass testing if cases start to rise, under plans to be set out this week.The Prime Minister’s “Covid winter plan” is expected to place more areas into the higher tiers to ensure further restrictions are not needed.While some local measures will be similar to those in the previous system, some tiers will be strengthened to safeguard the gains made during the national lockdown.Last night it emerged that the 10pm curfew for restaurants and pubs – which has been severely criticised by Tory MPs – is likely to be extended to 11pm when the tiers are published on Monday.   Final details will be signed off at a meeting of the Cabinet today. Details of the new tougher tiers system, which comes into force on Dec 3rd, will be ...

Handy Cock's Brilliant Solution to Ending the Covid Crisis – Even More Tests! In a move that will surprise no one, Matt Hancock has announced that the Government will carry out even more tests in an attempt to better understand how prevalent the virus is. The BBC has the story. The Office for National Statistics' Infection Survey will test 150,000 people a fortnight in England by October, up from 28,000 now.The survey is separate from the mass testing programme of people with symptoms to diagnose cases.For the survey, a random sample of the general population is tested.That means it can provide estimates for the true spread of the virus.The diagnostic testing programme, which provides daily totals, largely relies on people with symptoms coming forward.Some people do not display symptoms when they are infected so the daily totals are an underestimate of the amount of infection that is around.As part of the expansion of the programme, data will also be gathered in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the survey was the "single most important tool" the government had for making policy decisions around coronavirus because it helped it understand how the disease was spreading.Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Hancock said expanding the ONS survey would allow the government to be "more accurate and more localised" in its ...

by Oliver May New variants are of no concern. There is no need to cancel summer holidays. Millions vaccinated, coupled with immunity from millions of prior infections means we can surf on the crest of the third wave, rather than being remotely concerned about it. In fact, the UK should open now. And vaccine passports, certificates, or whatever name they are being given, will do nothing to improve the health of the population – all headlines we have read and heard over the past week or so. Except, we haven’t. We have heard and read the opposite. And we are instilled with fear from TV and radio adverts, complete with ‘that scary voice’ all too eager to give listeners nightmares, be it your impressionable primary-school-aged daughter, or a frail older lady now terrified into wearing a mask outside while waiting for a bus with no one within a 50-metre radius. But the reality is that the above headlines could have been written – and all based on science. Jayanta Bhattacharya is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and one of the co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, the report that called for the focused protection of the vulnerable and no lockdowns, signed by almost 14,000 medical and public health scientists, nearly 42,000 medical practitioners and close to 765,000 concerned ...

A new Oxford study claims to show the vaccines working. But a closer look reveals some strange features, plus a confirmation of the troubling post-jab infection spike, leaving us with more questions than answers.

Infections were falling in the week before March 23rd 2020, and no-lockdown Sweden fared better than the UK. So how can lockdown have come too late? Should have stuck with the original plan, Boris.