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The latest batch of documents have been published by the government Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
Prof Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine, UEA, said:
“The one paper from the recent SAGE documents that stands out for me is by Mark Woolhouse and colleagues from Edinburgh “Protecting high risk individuals as an approach to controlling covid-19 outbreaks – Importance of transmission networks and the chain of trust”
“This is a very thoughtful discussion of what is a really important topic. If, as it now seems, the UK will be unable to prevent a large number of infections this winter the only other option if we are to reduce the death toll will be to protect our most vulnerable citizens, the groups of people that had previously been asked to shield. Woolhouse quite correctly points out that “the term “shielding” appears now to be irrevocably linked to extreme self-isolation”. That is really unfortunate because such extreme isolation would be intolerable for most vulnerable people. Professor Woolhouse then raises the issue of how vulnerable people may be protected including “Chains of Trust” which is about people who have contact with vulnerable individuals managing their own risks in order to protect that person. He recognises the difficulties that would be involved but points out that there are no good options left to us.
“Whilst the document does not give a clear picture how this could work in practice, in my view this is something that does need to be looked at in much more detail. Such an approach, if it could be implemented, may be the only effective means to reduce deaths during the coming winter without imposing a full lockdown.”
All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:
www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19
Declared interests
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