Andrew Gwynne knows SARS-CoV-2 is airborne. Why pretend otherwise?

See below, my letter to Andrew Gwynne on 21 January. As parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health & Prevention, he is responsible for health protection with COVID-19 cited at the top of the list.

Click the vid link below (uploaded today) to see evidence that Gwynne is very much aware that SARS2 is an airborne virus 👇

https://x.com/TheCovidCoverUp/status/1887584549292679295

21 January 2025

Dear Mr Gwynne

I hope this finds you and yours well.

I’m writing in response to your letter to Tim Farron MP, on behalf of his constituent, Anne McConway, widely shared on social media. I'm a journalist writing predominantly for the Irish Independent. I've also written for the Guardian, UK Independent, New Statesman and others.

I have consistently covered the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from the start. A recent column focusing on SARS2 harms to children & schools was read aloud at the UK Covid inquiry. I have access to the world's leading scientific experts on SARS2 (the ones that have been consistently right) and am happy to connect you with them. I covered the recent module (3) of the UK Covid inquiry examining the impact of the pandemic on healthcare. Duty bound by accuracy and public interest, I am compelled to fact check some of the claims made in your letter (no doubt unwittingly), specifically in relation to Dr Lisa Ritchie, the UKHSA and the WHO.

Firstly, the RCN recently reported members being depressed and demoralised describing conditions in hospitals as worse than during the pandemic. Fact check: We’re still during the pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not over. Baroness Hallett (Covid inquiry chair) stated that it’s not a question of if another pandemic will strike, but when. Given the UK recorded among the highest Covid-19 healthcare worker deaths in the world, what lessons have been learned?

Starting with a summary of Dr Lisa Ritchie’s testimony. Currently, National Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at NHS England, previously head of IPC at NHS England and chair of the Covid IPC cell, Dr Ritchie insisted that senior clinicians did not provide evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was airborne and, had they done so, the cell’s position would have moved. False. In June 2021, over 17 professional bodies and unions, including CATA, the BMA and RCN challenged the IPC droplet dogma in a meeting with government and health officials. Their clinical expertise, and scientific evidence was disregarded. It still is.

Professor Clive Beggs, one of the inquiry’s expert witness on physical sciences testified that, “the overwhelming scientific evidence strongly indicates that the inhalation of infectious aerosol particles is the dominant route”. Beggs documents that this has been the WHO’s position since December 2021. He cites the recent publication of the WHO’s “Indoor airborne risk assessment in the context of SARS-CoV-2” tool to inform mitigation measures for healthcare centres and others, to “reduce the unacceptable and unnecessary health burden resulting from the airborne transmission of respiratory pathogens, like SARS-CoV-2”. Recent WHO advice stated: “ Protect loved ones from Covid: Stay home if sick. Test, get boosted, ventilate, mask around others.”

When reminded that professor Beggs presented unequivocal evidence (35 studies) that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne, Ritchie was asked if her position remained that the primary mode of transmission for Covid-19 is droplets and contact? Reply: That’s my position. The inquiry failed to ask a critical follow up: Where is your corroborating evidence? As Baroness Hallett pointed out, if airborne transmission is shown to play any role in transmission, surely the precautionary principle should be invoked, i.e. mitigating against both droplet AND airborne spread? I would be grateful if you could confirm whether you have asked Dr Ritchie to present the scientific studies underpinning her opinion, given it’s at odds with that of the WHO and settled science? I would be grateful for a copy of same.

In her testimony, professor Jenny Harries, chief executive of UKHSA, previously Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, accepted that airborne transmission does happen (apparently at odds with Dr Ritchie’s position) but denies the need for FFP3s, claiming Covid is the same as flu now. False. A recent study showed the risk of death from Covid-19 is 35% greater than for the flu, we vaccinate children against flu but not SARS-CoV-2. In 2022, over six times as many children died from Covid than flu in the US. Ireland includes Covid-19 infection as a risk factor for blood clots. Not flu. Flu is seasonal, SARS2 is omnipresent putting constant pressure on healthcare. In October, while the inquiry was underway, it was reported that A&Es in England experienced their busiest October on record, citing Covid disruption. NHS leaders warned of “more winter pressure than ever before”.  Yet, hospital IPC guidance was not updated to include airborne mitigations, as recommended by the inquiry experts (see below). A meta-analysis of studies showed that hospital-acquired Covid infection increases the death rate by 30%. For immunocompromised patients, that is doubled. What is your plan to make access to healthcare safe, particularly for the clinically vulnerable?

Harries indicated that recommending routine use of FFP3s was unnecessary, invoking IPC experts’ testimony. False. The experts actually testified that IPC guidance should be updated to recommend routine FFP3 use in treating patients with Covid, flu and other respiratory viruses. In May, A comprehensive review, analysing 400 studies provided strong evidence that respirators in particular, worn consistently and correctly, are effective at reducing respiratory infections like Covid. Ben, an NHS doctor, contracted SARS2 at work in April 2020, having been forced to replace his FFP3 respirator for a flimsy surgical mask. Disabled by long-Covid, unable to work, Ben faces financial destitution. He’s currently on suicide watch.

On children and long-Covid, Harries claimed that only a small number of children are impacted by it. False. In August, a study found that 20% of children aged 6-11 and 14% of teens have long-Covid. Numbers rising with every wave.

Testimony of Professor Susan Hopkins: UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief medical adviser, former deputy director of Public Health England’s national infection service. Regarding long-Covid she claimed: “We don’t understand enough about it to give the right messaging”. False. We know that long-Covid is a debilitating disease with no cure and, risk of developing it increases with every infection. Recent long-Covid research estimated that up to the end of last year, 400 million people of all ages, regardless of health status, have long-Covid, leading to an annual global economic toll of $1trn. Author Dr Ziyad Al-Aly warns that long-Covid affects nearly every organ system, including cardiovascular, immune and nervous system, describing it as, “the defining health crisis of our time”. There are many studies, all bad. It’s Hopkins’ duty to be informed, especially given around 34% of healthcare workers in England are suffering from long-Covid. A  BMA survey showed 1 in 5 doctors (respondents) are unable to work because of the disease which the WHO predicts will cause a mass disabling event. Around 2 million people in the UK have long-Covid. According to the latest ONS Covid Infection Survey in March, a third of long-Covid sufferers are new cases since March 2023.

Hopkins also claimed that the evidence for FFP3 masks being more effective than surgical masks at infection protection is 'weak” beyond the laboratory. False. When Cambridge’s Addenbrooke hospital upgraded masks on Covid-19 wards to FFP3, hospital-acquired Covid-19 infections dropped by up to 100pc among workers.

The evidence shows that UK IPC guidance remains fundamentally flawed, based on debunked droplet dogma, sidelining the scientific consensus that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne. The UK’s IPC guidance is, therefore, based on a false premise. What follows is a cascade of flawed measures, focusing on handwashing and surgical masks instead of ventilation and FFP3 respirators.

With one pandemic ongoing and another expected, it’s clear that the individuals responsible for the past and ongoing reported mishandling of the current pandemic appear to have learned no lessons. As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, including pandemic preparedness, you are responsible for ensuring scientifically literate,  competent professionals are at the helm, communicating clear public health messaging. That is, airborne mitigations against airborne viruses work. Cleaning indoor air, testing, isolation and respirator masks are part of the solution (in addition to broadening vaccine eligibility). Health care workers are depressed, demoralised and many incapacitated/disabled by long-Covid now. If another pandemic is added to the mix, how can an already traumatised, depleted workforce be expected to cope? Shouldn’t protecting healthcare workers from repeated SARS2 infections (& other airborne viruses) be part of government’s pandemic preparedness plan? To start building back NHS workforce resilience?

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

With kind regards & huge appreciation.

Tess Finch-Lees