The UK has record death tolls, yet still the government has no clear Covid strategy | Helen Ward

Vaccination on its own is not a way out of this pandemic. We need to use other tools and involve ordinary peopleHelen Ward is professor of public health at Imperial College LondonCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBack in April 2020, I wrote of my despair that so many people were desperately ill and dying because politicians had “refused to listen and act on advice”. It is barely believable that I find myself with similar feelings a full nine months later. Once again, the central government has delayed decisions and not followed the advice of scientists. It failed to follow Sage advice on an England-wide “circuit-breaker” in early autumn, and went on to relax controls in December, despite high case numbers. Predictions of an inevitable rise in cases did not deter ministers from trying, unsuccessfully, to “save Christmas”. The utterly predictable result is now happening, with pressure on hospitals and more than a thousand deaths most days, a toll even worse than the first wave. The emergence of the new, more transmissible variant has doubtless made control even more difficult, but we still seem to have been on the back foot at every stage.There is a stark contrast between the poor control measures and the outstanding scientific progress. We know so much more than we did back in April. We have a better understanding of transmission and the natural history of the infection, the immunology, and the variation in risks within the population. T...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus Infectious diseases Science England Medical research UK news Health Society Source Type: news