We cannot handwash our way out of an airborne pandemic. Pretending otherwise is futile, and cruel

Excerpts from my article in today's article in Indo👇

Read full article here: https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/tess-finch-lees-covid-and-other-respiratory-illnesses-are-surging-and-its-a-nightmare-for-hospitals/a2120593308.html.

Germany’s health minister, Professor Lauterbach, warned that the increased incidence throughout Europe of cardiovascular disease in 25-50 year olds is associated with covid infections. “It’s not a cold” he said. “Colds don’t cause autoimmune disease or brain damage/inflammation, potentially increasing the risk of major long term neurogenerative diseases”. “Long-covid”, he warned, “is a debilitating disease, for which there’s no cure, the burden increases with every wave”. He’s advising working from home, boosters, testing and avoiding indoor Christmas parties.

I'm invariably over word count so not everything makes the cut. Such as this full para👇

Meanwhile, our Chief Medical Officer, Professor Smyth, has re-launched her Hello Again World Campaign, nudging our elderly to socialise indoors, unmasked, unventilated in the midst of an airborne pandemic. Novavax and antivirals are being withheld. Hospitalisations doubled four weeks after Smyth’s last campaign ahead of Paddy’s day. It’s the greatest public health heist since Camels got doctors to endorse cigarettes with the slogan, “smoke your anxiety away”, except worse: It’s sponsored by Ireland’s CMO.

SARS-CoV-2 is a vascular disease that can damage blood vessels, potentially causing cardiovascular disease, strokes, neuropsychiatric disorders, organ damage etc, which may present months later. Reinfections increase these risks and that of developing long-covid. It’s often asymptomatic. Everyone is vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 – the clinically vulnerable disproportionately so. SARS-CoV-2, RSV and other airborne diseases can be prevented with snug ffp2/3 masks, testing, isolating when sick, ventilation and HEPA filtration. Boosters help reduce severity.

These last 2 paras pushed word count but is available exclusively here for my lovely blog readers!👇💞😎

Our government and CMO have abdicated public health to individuals whilst withholding data and information necessary to assess risk. Jess’ mother pleaded with medics to mask, they refused. Children did not consent to being harmed by those entrusted to heal them.

With warnings of healthcare collapse over Christmas, health minister, Stephen Donnelly’s failure to reinstate masks and clean the air in hospitals now, will lead to countless preventable disease, disability and death: for staff and patients. We cannot handwash our way out of an airborne pandemic. Pretending otherwise is futile, and cruel.