I posted this on Twitter this morning:
Three weeks ago I decided I'd take the risk of going to London for a meeting. I got Covid. Three weeks on I still feel utterly exhausted by it. My enthusiasm for going into a world where almost no one seems to care about passing on Covid is somewhat reduced. Please wear a mask.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) August 1, 2022
Having had Covid before I expected to feel ill, and did. This is much worse than whatever we usually call flu. But I had not expected the fatigue to continue as it has.
Sure, I have been working, but probably less than usual precisely because of this, so that is not the real explanation.
That real explanation just seems to be that this thing can be vicious.
My appeal to people is based on the simple fact that getting this is not fun, and very large numbers of people are doing so. So why aren't we trying to prevent that? It baffles me when mask wearing is so easy.
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Warning noted and thank you.
I can only speak for my part of Scotland, but my wife and I still wear our masks in public indoor settings. I’m afraid we are the exception. Very, very few, wearing masks.
As everywhere…
probably because wearing a mask makes little or no difference. At least that’s what the science tells us. Still if it psychologically helps some by them believing it helps them they should wear one.
The science says the exact opposite
What motivat5es your lies?
Makes little to no different to what exactly, Stuart? And where is your evidence?
There are at least three possible positive impacts from wearing face masks – my mask can protect you and others from my infection (quite possibly one that is asymptomatic). My mask may also protect me from you and others. And wearing a mask reminds everyone that the pandemic is not over – we still need to take care, stay at home if we feel ill, wash our hands, etc. Catching COVID is no picnic, even if it does not kill you.
Unless of course you think it is not worth doing anything to try to stop millions of people catching, and tens of thousands of people dying from, this one infectious disease in the UK each year. Or to stop the NHS being gummed up with thousands and thousands of COVID patients at any one time (over 4000 every day in the last year, except for five days in early June and most of the time somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000).
Thanks
I wear my mask in public places but I don’t see many other people in masks – it’s surprising considering how high the infection rate is. You would think common sense would prompt mask wearing – perhaps people are waiting for an announcement on TV or a new “guideline”.
I read that keeping Vitamin D levels optimal can help strengthen immune systems and help people to recover faster if they get Covid. GP’s vary on their opinion of optimal levels but 75 – 200 nmol/L
is seen by many testing labs as the right range – with below 75 being inadequate.
I have rather dismissed the vitamin D idea and have seen serious mention of it for a long time
Ellie, it’s not vitamin D, but vitamin D3 that seems to help. The gov shielding letter from Jan ’21 suggested it may ameliorate covid symptoms, so i looked into it and then started taking a high daily dose. My immune system is proven wonky with several disorders. After several weeks i noticed that one, a pustular condition on my foot, which severely affects walking, was considerably lessened. Then i accidentally bought some vitD without the ‘3’ and by the time it came pustuling back i realised and dashed off to buy the right kind. Another few weeks and finally it was relieved again. The US NIH website is a massive resource for researching almost anything of a medical nature, and sure enough my chronic condition has multiple articles and studies despite being rare. High dose vitD3 genuinely has a positive impact on a great many immune linked disorders. As far as i know, i haven’t had covid so i can’t speak to that (maybe it could have helped me be symptomless?) but boy, am i glad for the unexpected side effect!
Quite a few folk where I am have had Covid recently.
The impact varies greatly , but many report that it takes a while to get back to feeling somewhat normal.
Six weeks seems to be pretty much average for over 50s.
I haven’t had it yet. I wear a mask whenever I leave the village I live in.
Avoid it!
Re vitamin D. We need randomised control studies. Observational studies in the UK have shown that people with low levels of vit D are more likely to get Covid and that giving vit D to Covid patients in hospital improves outcomes. The University of Barcelona did a randomised trial and it concluded that giving high dose vit D to hospital patients with Covid resulted in 80% fewer admissions to ICU and 60% reduction in deaths. The Lancet featured this article and then withdrew it, as it wasn’t happy with some aspects of the research. All the more reason to do a proper trial here.
Quite right, Richard. Likewise, why are we not going full on to properly ventilate schools and public places? Why not… is there not enough money in it?
Regarding your tweet about doctor’s appointments. In France we have a BP booking app called DoctoLib. https://www.doctolib.fr It locates practices, you choose an available appointment time to suit, book yourself in and rock up. It’s even available to – gasp – foreigners! You still have a GP for longer term care and attention, and specialist referrals. It worked brilliantly for the Covid vaccination programme and the data was immediately available for analysis, forecasting, and policy.
The app is I think a commercial service provider working to a state contract. This works because of strong regulation and effective, centralised, secure data management. Essentially the treatment aspect is separated from the payment aspect – you present your status when you attend the appointment, the personal health data and the billing data pass into separately regulated systems, and the latter is sent on to private insurance companies or state agencies as appropriate. It effectively combines private, state coverage, or a mix as is normal in France – note healthcare is not available free to all at the point of delivery, there is a private ‘top-up’ system, but you don’t get a second rate service if the state is paying.
How is this so? Because the French are not having to go cap in hand to the US for their secure data infrastructure. They do not have to hand over their citizens’ data to an unregulated US data market – they have data sovereignty. Hello, Brexit!
Thanks
This could work here too, but does not because there are so many conflicting IT systems – which the government is making worse
When I go shopping I still wear a mask. I would say that 95% of people in shops including staff do not.
In the words of Kenneth Wolstenhome “they think it’s all over”.
Unfortunately for many of them, if they catch covid, “it is now”.
I always wear a mask – an FFP3 – in shops
Search me, Richard. (And what is also bizarre is when people wear a mask but not effectively, e.g. over the mouth but not the nose.) I suppose it can be largely put down to the fact that there has been very limited and inconsistent messaging from authorities (especially the government but even senior scientists) about the importance of mask wearing (and other mitigations such as good ventilation). There is a strong contrast with Japan (where my expertise happens to be) where they have the opposite problem – getting people to stop wearing masks outdoors even when it increases the risk of heatstroke in Japan’s very hot summer weather. Getting human beings to think and behave rationally is no easy matter. Hope you will be back to normal fitness soon.
Thanks
I wear a mask. I find people keep their distance. However, I cna’t remember the last time I went on public transport.
Organised by your area, Richard.
https://www.independentsage.org/weekly-briefing-29th-july-2022/
I hate to say this, but I still fall asleep at my laptop sometimes. having had covid last September.
Thanks
Please can you point me to the science that says mask wearing makes a difference. I can’t see any evidence that says it does.
It’s really not hard
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks?gclid=Cj0KCQjw852XBhC6ARIsAJsFPN17uKAnU18kEJUtfSg7fti7EeD0XMJJhyAQJmaRRLu7jJqIzYY6yeoaAoM3EALw_wcB
Just Google it
The problem is that there are so many sources of information that contradict each other. The credibility of WHO and Sage is questionable. Especially when Sage’s modelling was significantly inaccurate.
I am not referring to Sage
I am referring to Independent Sage. Not the same thing, at all
Also, Martin, if you watch the Independent Sage link I gave there is evidence on there that mask wearing works. Independent Sage are the specialists that did not want to be associated with the government Sage.
Next Friday they are going to discuss educational settings and covid. I doubt whether many people involved will watch it. I will because I have grandchildren in school and children as teachers, and will pass on the links to them. All the teachers in the family know how important it is, and are really worried about what will happen in September.
I am assuming because of all the festivals and sporting events with large crowds that the numbers infected will rise rapidly over this month. I take no pleasure in writing that.
I am a long-time (if sporadic) reader of your blog Richard and I have learned a great deal over the years. I appreciate and value your insightful and objective analysis, thank you.
I have not previously commented here because I don’t have sufficient knowledge of economics, politics, or tax to make a useful contribution. However, on masks and the Covid pandemic, I have done some research and I have some prior knowledge about medical trials and statistics. I would like to provide some evidence with links to what the science says about mask wearing and the difference it makes.
Sebastian Rushworth M.D. has written 2 articles specifically about face masks:
1) Do face masks stop respiratory infections? https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/09/05/do-face-masks-stop-respiratory-infections/
2) Covid-19: New evidence on face masks https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/11/19/covid-19-new-evidence-on-face-masks/
Quoting his 2nd article: “What can we conclude from this? Wearing face masks when out in public does not meaningfully decrease the probability that the mask wearer will get covid-19. It’s possible that there is a small reduction in risk, but if there is, it is so small that it was undetectable in a study where almost 5,000 people were followed for a month.”
I trust independent Sage and not callous idiots like you
What pleasure do you take in promoting untruths that kill?
What the tests that you quote did not look at was whether the masks stopped the spread of covid. It was just whether the person wearing them caught covid.
If everyone else on the trains where people caught covid was wearing a mask, then possibly Richard and others would not have caught covid. Just a thought.
https://www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Safe-schools-v4b1.pdf
Children in schools would be safer wearing masks according to scientific advice here.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/07/england-vaccine-just-plus-europe-covid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
This article was written two weeks after I came out of hospital after being on a covid ward on oxygen for three weeks. The authors are members of Independent Sage. The article is part of the evidence given to the People’s Covid Inquiry, chaired by Michael Mansfield. Government officials were invited to go the inquiry, but none turned up to give evidence.
Thank you