Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Aug 21, 2024 1:49:28 GMT
Tess Finch-Lees: It hasn’t gone away you know, Paris Olympics proved ignoring Covid is not a winner - Published Aug 20, 2024
Link to a free version
‘Olympic dreams shattered”, “Covid causing havoc”, “Everyone’s dropping like flies”: just some of the headlines from the Paris “post-Covid Olympics”. But when it comes to fighting Covid, there’s nothing.
At the outset, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a SARS-Cov-2 surge globally, with a 20pc positivity rate in Europe (not seasonal, not normal) and at least 40 outbreaks in the Olympic village.
Many athletes were unable to compete due to post-acute Covid illnesses. Volunteers wrote to organisers saying “Covid pandemic threat denial” won’t protect against infection, demanding the implementation of scientifically proven mitigations. Organisers replied they were monitoring the situation and since there’s no testing, there’s no data and technically, no Covid. However, sanitiser is available.
The WHO also warned in recent weeks that the SARS2 pandemic is far from over and such high levels of uncontrolled transmission could lead to more severe variants emerging.
A travel warning was issued for countries where transmission doubled in a week. Ireland was among them. Unsurprising, given our SARS2 wastewater levels last month were the highest since 2021. I guess Covid didn’t get Luke O’Neill’s “the pandemic’s over” memo.
It’s our Government’s job to communicate WHO health information to the public. No announcement ensued. Radio silence also from our Government-appointed interim chief medical officer, Professor Mary Horgan.
Public health officials and the media have a duty to expose the huge body of buried evidence of harms associated with repeated, forced SARS2 infections. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reported 9,755 patients waiting for beds last month – the worst month for overcrowding since records began in 2006.
Yet, responding to Limerick Hospital’s suspension of services due to emergency department overcrowding, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly claimed the number of people waiting on trolleys overall was falling.
Last month, I documented the rising SARS2 surge resulting in hospital outbreaks, harming patients and staff with a predicted knock-on effect on all services. Had Mr Donnelly reinstated universal masking then, this deterioration might have been mitigated. A study in the Journal of Hospital Infection last month found that preventative measures in healthcare, including staff N95/FFP2/3 masking and patient admission screening saved lives and money through reduced in-patient days and staff sickness.
SARS2 deaths data has not been published since May. My repeated requests for this data have thus far yielded nothing. But, we know that deaths increase globally after every wave, as do those suffering with long-Covid.
A review of long-Covid published in Nature Medicine last week, 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, or 1pc of the global GDP. Author Dr Ziyad Al-Aly warns that long-Covid affects nearly every organ system, including cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, reproductive, gastrointestinal and nervous system, describing it as, “the defining health crisis of our time”.
The review authors concluded that, effective policies should focus on prevention, support for patients, access to quality care, a co-ordinated global response, professional education and public health communication.
Five years into this pandemic, the evidence of harm is now irrefutable. Yet most people are unaware, for example, of the Lancet study published in June indicating brain abnormalities in survivors of Covid two years later and that “people recovering continue to experience cognitive, psychiatric, neurological symptoms and brain functional alterations”. Numerous studies have found that even “mild” SARS2 infections can cause or accelerate neurological degeneration. This has wide-ranging implications.
In May, pathologist Dr Margot Bolster reported that Covid-induced brain fog was likely a significant factor in a multi-car crash in Cork killing two in 2022. The driver, who veered onto the wrong side of the road, tested positive for Covid in the morgue. “There were all sorts of brain symptoms with it… it affected all organs of the body,” Dr Bolster said.
Last week, the WHO issued yet another warning: “Your health is precious. Protect yourself and loved ones from Covid: stay at home if sick. Test, get boosted, ventilate, mask around others.”
Again, this information was not shared. Instead, our governments are pathologising those of us using proven tools to protect ourselves and our loved ones. As though being scientifically literate is an act of disobedience, punishable by state-sponsored stigma and ostracisation.
The Paris Olympics proved that pretending the pandemic is over only serves to prolong it, that everyone, including elite athletes, are vulnerable and that we can’t hand-wash our way out of an airborne pandemic.
We urgently need clean indoor air and sterilising vaccines. Until then, FFP3 masks are the most effective tool we’ve got to protect our precious health.
Link to a free version
‘Olympic dreams shattered”, “Covid causing havoc”, “Everyone’s dropping like flies”: just some of the headlines from the Paris “post-Covid Olympics”. But when it comes to fighting Covid, there’s nothing.
At the outset, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a SARS-Cov-2 surge globally, with a 20pc positivity rate in Europe (not seasonal, not normal) and at least 40 outbreaks in the Olympic village.
Many athletes were unable to compete due to post-acute Covid illnesses. Volunteers wrote to organisers saying “Covid pandemic threat denial” won’t protect against infection, demanding the implementation of scientifically proven mitigations. Organisers replied they were monitoring the situation and since there’s no testing, there’s no data and technically, no Covid. However, sanitiser is available.
The WHO also warned in recent weeks that the SARS2 pandemic is far from over and such high levels of uncontrolled transmission could lead to more severe variants emerging.
A travel warning was issued for countries where transmission doubled in a week. Ireland was among them. Unsurprising, given our SARS2 wastewater levels last month were the highest since 2021. I guess Covid didn’t get Luke O’Neill’s “the pandemic’s over” memo.
It’s our Government’s job to communicate WHO health information to the public. No announcement ensued. Radio silence also from our Government-appointed interim chief medical officer, Professor Mary Horgan.
Public health officials and the media have a duty to expose the huge body of buried evidence of harms associated with repeated, forced SARS2 infections. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reported 9,755 patients waiting for beds last month – the worst month for overcrowding since records began in 2006.
Yet, responding to Limerick Hospital’s suspension of services due to emergency department overcrowding, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly claimed the number of people waiting on trolleys overall was falling.
Last month, I documented the rising SARS2 surge resulting in hospital outbreaks, harming patients and staff with a predicted knock-on effect on all services. Had Mr Donnelly reinstated universal masking then, this deterioration might have been mitigated. A study in the Journal of Hospital Infection last month found that preventative measures in healthcare, including staff N95/FFP2/3 masking and patient admission screening saved lives and money through reduced in-patient days and staff sickness.
SARS2 deaths data has not been published since May. My repeated requests for this data have thus far yielded nothing. But, we know that deaths increase globally after every wave, as do those suffering with long-Covid.
A review of long-Covid published in Nature Medicine last week, 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, or 1pc of the global GDP. Author Dr Ziyad Al-Aly warns that long-Covid affects nearly every organ system, including cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, reproductive, gastrointestinal and nervous system, describing it as, “the defining health crisis of our time”.
The review authors concluded that, effective policies should focus on prevention, support for patients, access to quality care, a co-ordinated global response, professional education and public health communication.
Five years into this pandemic, the evidence of harm is now irrefutable. Yet most people are unaware, for example, of the Lancet study published in June indicating brain abnormalities in survivors of Covid two years later and that “people recovering continue to experience cognitive, psychiatric, neurological symptoms and brain functional alterations”. Numerous studies have found that even “mild” SARS2 infections can cause or accelerate neurological degeneration. This has wide-ranging implications.
In May, pathologist Dr Margot Bolster reported that Covid-induced brain fog was likely a significant factor in a multi-car crash in Cork killing two in 2022. The driver, who veered onto the wrong side of the road, tested positive for Covid in the morgue. “There were all sorts of brain symptoms with it… it affected all organs of the body,” Dr Bolster said.
Last week, the WHO issued yet another warning: “Your health is precious. Protect yourself and loved ones from Covid: stay at home if sick. Test, get boosted, ventilate, mask around others.”
Again, this information was not shared. Instead, our governments are pathologising those of us using proven tools to protect ourselves and our loved ones. As though being scientifically literate is an act of disobedience, punishable by state-sponsored stigma and ostracisation.
The Paris Olympics proved that pretending the pandemic is over only serves to prolong it, that everyone, including elite athletes, are vulnerable and that we can’t hand-wash our way out of an airborne pandemic.
We urgently need clean indoor air and sterilising vaccines. Until then, FFP3 masks are the most effective tool we’ve got to protect our precious health.