BBC drama Casualty's take on masking during a pandemic: How dare you angsty patients [women] come into our hospitals wearing those scary respirators [unavailable to NHS workers] and trigger trauma in medics which was never resolved because everyone [except a few pathetic sheep] consented to pretend the thing that caused the trauma went away.
The recent episode of Casualty was a pro-harm, ableist attack on the clinically vulnerable/covid informed (minority) community. A work of pure gaslighting fiction, bereft of truth, compassion or integrity. The unbridled hostility and derision towards vulnerable people trying to access healthcare safely - in an ongoing airborne pandemic - felt cruel & painful to watch.
Two people close to me were killed directly & indirectly by SARS-CoV-2 infections acquired in hospitals - from unmasked healthcare workers. I've written several articles documenting just some of the heartbreaking stories in my inbox from vulnerable patients being forcibly infected with SARS2 - by medics whose job it is to DO NO HARM.
Such as, 4 year old Jess, who was hospitalised with RSV in December, following a covid infection forced on her by a doctor who refused to mask during a routine outpatients appointment. Her mother's pleas were met with patronising disdain & veiled threats of being reported to social services - for asking a coughing doctor to mask up to protect her child. Jess has been constantly sick since being infected with SARS-CoV-2. She now has Long Covid & has gone from being a bouncy, happy social kid to a lethargic, achy, grumpy shadow of her former self. A childhood lost due to harm caused, in my view, by medical negligence.
SARS-CoV-2 is still killing. Since testing has all but stopped, numbers are likely considerably higher than reported. Whilst vaccines have helped reduce hospitalisations & deaths, they don't prevent infections. Long Covid & post Covid sequelae are a growing concern as we enter year 5 of the ongoing pandemic.
Denial & fear avoidance is harmful to health & wellbeing. Accepting & adapting to reality/science will protect you, your family & community. That requires adjustments: Masking indoors, socialising outdoors, cleaning the air, testing & isolating when sick. Without government support, these protections are beyond the reach of many. The right to health & life confined to those who can afford to buy them.
Having this scientific knowledge & knowing the government's plan is mass, forced infections, fear & anxiety are rational responses. Misrepresenting scientific facts and pathologising knowledge, compassion & rational fear, as BBC Casualty does, puts us all at risk, but clinically vulnerable patients & staff disproportionately so. Be it attacks in the street or being bullied by traumatised health care workers, triggered by masks.
As I wrote in a recent article, "Fear is a self-preserving emotion, enabling us to detect and react to hazards, crucial for survival. Fear drives adaptive behaviours aimed at escaping the source of danger. Fear avoidance leads to denialism, which is irrational. It involves the refusal to accept an empirically verifiable reality: the pandemic is not over. The threat remains & is made greater by media misinformation
If you value your health & life & that of your family, follow the science, not the herd.
Please read the brilliant rebuttal thread by Clinically Vulnerable Families which has a link to BBC complaints (complaints really do make a difference & worth the time/energy) 👇
https://twitter.com/cv_cev/status/1768180056130527361
Bearing witness: The fourth estate's role in maintaining a healthy, functioning democracy is to scrutinise evidence in pursuit of truth & holding power to account. Those of you who feel able to send me your stories documenting your experiences accessing healthcare (UK & Ireland), particularly since the removal of masks, I promise to send them to all the main print & broadcast editors in the respective country, along with links to the scientific evidence cited below. You can post them in comments below or email me directly: tflees26@gmail.com🙏
Masks Work
"The evidence shows a good ffp3 mask stops you getting covid" Dr Rachel Clarke, NHS doctor whose book was turned into a recent ITV drama Breathtaking.
In her interviews, Dr Clarke warned that covid is still here & staff STILL do not have access to proper PPE. She called on government to provide ffp3 respirators to healthcare workers now. She also raises awareness that over 850 health & care workers died of covid at work early on (staff are not being tested now: No data = no evidence = limited legal recourse & no accountability). NHS staff remain traumatised, many of whom have been disabled by Long Covid, with numbers growing constantly.
I came across the Breathtaking behind the scenes footage (below) reportedly filmed between April-May 2023 - after mask mandates were lifted in some hospitals. Extraordinary that film/TV production companies provided better quality masks for crew filming a drama about SARS2 overwhelming the NHS than was/is available to actual overwhelmed NHS staff working in SARS-CoV-2 filled hospitals. Health & Care workers' trauma is being exploited by political/institutional misinformation & media complicity 😪💔
The producers know respirators work. Infections = delays = costs👇
The most recent data from Wales (18 February) shows 67% of inpatient covid cases were the result of nosocomial (hospital acquired) infection, which have a circa 10% mortality rate.
SARS-CoV-2 is a level 3 airborne biohazard. Snug fitting respirators (ffp2/3, N95s), ventilation and HEPA filtration are effective in preventing all airborne infections, including SARS2
Vaccines help prevent death & hospitalisation but they don't prevent infections, Long Covid and post-covid sequalae. Immunity from infection & vaccines wanes.
Herd immunity doesn't exist. However, hundreds of studies do exist showing that repeated infections cause cumulative harm. According to the WHO, 1 in 10 infections results in Long Covid, a chronic, disabling disease for which there's no cure and negligible understanding within the medical profession.
Around 50- 60% of transmission is pre or asymptomatic, which is why testing & universal mask mandates are essential in health care settings. Both of which have been jettisoned against WHO, BMA & RCN advice. Many healthcare professionals now work with vulnerable patients even when symptomatic.
SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to cause neurological & brain damage, linked to neuro-psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. Repeat SARS2 infections damage mental, as well as physical health.
Universal masking in healthcare is WHO policy - pandemic not over: (2) Cat in the Hat on X: "Back when we still did routine testing in hospitals, data showed that ~30% of patients in hospital with Covid caught it whilst they were there. It will almost certainly be worse now… …but we can no longer track this metric as the data is no longer reported. https://t.co/mkPtxeQwLM" / X (twitter.com)
Maria Van Kerkhove: Covid cases likely up to 20 times higher than reported, so little surveillance, remains global threat: Be smart: avoid infection & spread: (2) Maria Van Kerkhove on X: ". #COVID19 is still a global threat & we can’t wish it away What to do: Limit your exposure as much as you can. Test, mask, ventilate, get boosted/vaccinated… If you get (re)infected: limit contact with others, mask, ventilate to prevent onward spread; seek medical care…" / X (twitter.com)
World expert, Dr Zalaly Aly on his Long Covid research (burden of disease on a par with cancer & heart disease): (2) Dr. Lucky Tran on X: ""The burden of disease and disability from Long COVID is on par with the burden of cancer and heart disease. The best way to prevent Long COVID is to prevent COVID in the first place. There is no Long COVID without COVID." Brilliant testimony by @zalaly! #HELPLongCovid https://t.co/Cw24Eg8TiJ" / X (twitter.com)
BMA Long Covid survey: Drs suffering with long covid: Disabled, unable to work & suicidal : First major survey of doctors with Long Covid reveals debilitating impact on health, life and work - BMA media centre - BMA
The first "S" in SARS2 means "severe", it's never mild, even if it feels that way in the acute phase. Just one of many studies showing brain damage caused by "mild" Covid: Long Covid: Even mild Covid is linked to damage to the brain months after infection (nbcnews.com)
Long Covid expert, Dr Rae Duncan on BBC Scotland recently on risks of repeated SARS2 infections: https://youtu.be/5kE5UCV1XE4
Around 2m people in the UK suffer from Long Covid, a disease for which there's no cure & very little understanding within the medical profession. Numbers are no longer being counted.
See Lit Covid data base to access SARS-CoV-2 studies, so far 403, 904 & growing almost weekly. How many have you read about in the MSM?. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/
Zero studies exist showing SARS-CoV-2 infections are harmless/safe/benign
Useful thread with links to studies documenting damage SARS-CoV-2 does to various body systems & organs: What SARS-CoV-2 Does to the Body (3rd Edition, December 2023) (panaccindex.info)
My brother lives in a care home for people with complex needs. As it's not a care home for older people, they don't get the Spring booster, despite all being high risk. One of the residents had an outpatient appointment a month ago and caught Covid. The whole home was then infected, some hospitalised. My brother is still sick now, over three weeks later. I don't know how the other residents are due to GDPR. I just hope we don't lose any of them. I know them all well as my brother has lived there over twenty years. I care about these people even if the UK Government doesn't. Masks should be mandatory in healthcare.
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