public health – Page 55 – The NEN

“I am Sorry …” – Coronavirus death toll passes 100,000

Prime Minister’s statement on coronavirus: 26th January 2021

I am sorry to have to tell you that today the number of deaths recorded from Covid in the UK has surpassed 100,000, and it is hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic.

The years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and, for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye.

I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one: fathers and mothers; brothers and sisters; sons and daughters and the many grandparents who have been taken.

And, to all those who grieve, we make this pledge: that when we have come through this crisis, we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost, and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others.

We will remember the courage of countless working people – not just our amazing NHS and care workers, but shop workers, transport staff, pharmacists, teachers, police, armed forces emergency services and many others – who kept our country going during our biggest crisis since the Second World War.

We will commemorate the small acts of kindness, the spirit of volunteering and the daily sacrifice of millions who placed their lives on hold time and again as we fought each new wave of the virus, buying time for our brilliant scientists to come to our aid.

In that moment of commemoration, we will celebrate the genius and perseverance of those who discovered the vaccines and the immense national effort – never seen before in our history – which is now underway to distribute them, one that has now seen us immunise over 6.8 million people across the United Kingdom.

And when those vaccines have finally freed us from this virus and put us on a path to recovery, we will make sure that we learn the lessons and reflect and prepare.

And, until that time, the best and most important thing we can all do to honour the memory of those who have died is to work together with ever greater resolve to defeat this disease.

And that is what we will do.

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, said: “This is a national tragedy and a terrible reminder of all that we have lost as a country.

“We must never become numb to these numbers or treat them as just statistics. Every death is a loved one, a friend, a neighbour, a partner or a colleague. It is an empty chair at the dinner table.

“To all those that are mourning, we must promise to learn the lessons of what went wrong and build a more resilient country. That day will come and we will get there together.

“But for now we must remember those that we have lost and be vigilant in the national effort to stay at home, protect our NHS and vaccinate Britain.”

Dumped contaminated face masks causing health & safety nightmare

Litter pickers across the UK are reporting a huge increase in the number of dumped contaminated disposable face masks being spotted during their patrols, as the number of single use masks used in the UK during 2021 is feared to reach 19.5 BILLION.

“The scale of the problem of carelessly dumped disposable face masks is massive – we use 52 million single use plastic masks a day and sadly some of these are being dropped, or simply fall from people’s pockets – sightings are increasingly common now”, explains Charlotte Green of UK waste company TradeWaste.co.uk

The number of disposable face masks that will be used across the UK in 2021 has been calculated at 19.5 billion. A proportion of these are discarded either carelessly or accidentally, meaning many end up being blown into woods making their journey into streams, rivers and eventually the sea.

What 19.5 billion single use face masks in numbers looks like:

52 million a day
1.6 billion a month
19.5 billion a year – weight equivalent to 5 ½ Eiffel Towers

The problem of how to dispose of masks is tricky, with no easy way to recycle and conflicting ways to handle potentially contaminated masks – the real problem is the littering caused by careless users.

Litter pickers across the country are reporting an increasing number of masks being collected during their rounds. In Fife, the Street Champions group reported finding 1 mask for every 60m they patrolled near a shopping area in Rosyth – they have collected a total of 3,500 since March. This is common across the whole of the UK.

Max Ratcliffe, aged 6, from Menston in West Yorkshire took part in a home-schooling project to examine litter and its effect on the environment in his local wood.

He was shocked by how many masks he spotted, with 1 dumped mask found every 50m on a path popular with dog walkers. “I think it’s really bad. People should put them in the bin. Animals might eat them, and they might die”, reported Max.

Used masks are not only a littering issue, but also a health and safety one.

“Used masks are tricky and you should not touch a used mask – they should be treated like any other potentially contaminated material and only handled professionally using the right protecting equipment”, explains Charlotte Green, of TradeWaste.co.uk.

“There are obvious risks associated with coming into contact with a used mask.

“The way to tackle this potential environmental disaster is for everyone to move towards washable reusable masks, not only will this cut down on single use mask litter, but it also reduces the environmental impacts of manufacturing 19.5 billion plastic masks in the first place.

“As a country we have worked so hard to reduce plastic consumption, yet we are sleepwalking into another nightmare.”

“DITCH YOUR DISPOSABLE” CAMPAIGN

Ditch your Disposable Face Mask in 2021 and save £190

A single use disposable face mask costs 18p
Over a year using 3 per day this is £197.10
A washable face mask costs £1.40 (Pack of 5 is £6.99)
If you can use 5 masks by washing them, then over a year this is a saving of £190.11

JVT: Hardship, but also hope

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam highlights the importance of continuing to follow the guidance, even after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination

Next Saturday will mark the first anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and next Sunday will be one year on from the first case of COVID-19 detected in the UK. It has been a terrible year as the virus has spread across the world causing misery, hardship, death and severely disrupting all of our lives.

The silver lining has been the incredible work of scientists and healthcare professionals across the world. If you had told me 12 months ago, that the UK would have discovered, in dexamethasone, the first treatment proven to reduce COVID-19 deaths, and vaccinated over 5 million people by this point, I would have been astonished. But that is the place in which we find ourselves. Hardship, but also hope.

Many people have played an important role in getting vaccines in arms, including the teams of researchers behind the development of the vaccines, the volunteers who took part in clinical trials, the Vaccines Taskforce who ensured we had supply of vaccine and the NHS staff and volunteers who are now working hard to administer them to people quickly and safely.

Their work has been incredible and we should rightly celebrate this.

Vaccines do offer the way out of the pandemic and a return to life as we knew it – having a pint before watching your local football team, multigenerational family gatherings and big weddings. These really will return! But to make that happen as quickly as possible we need to bring the number of cases down as soon as we can whilst we vaccinate our most vulnerable. To do that there are some important scientific points I want to highlight:

No vaccine has ever been 100% effective so no-one will have 100% protection from the virus. The way to reduce everyone’s risk is to break the chains of transmission and really push down the number of cases.

Vaccines work by tricking your body into thinking it has to fight the virus. It trains you for this fight by making antibodies and stimulating T-cells; then you are ready if you do come across the real thing. However, like any training, getting up to ‘match fitness’ takes time. Your body’s response, the immune response, is only fully trained up around 2 or 3 weeks after you have each of your 2 jabs. If you are older it’s better to allow at least 3 weeks. You can still get COVID in this time.

Even better and longer lasting protection then comes from the second dose so it is really important that everyone gets the second jab.

Really importantly we do not yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission of the virus. So even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give COVID to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue. If you change your behaviour you could still be spreading the virus, keeping the number of cases high and putting others at risk who also need their vaccine but are further down the queue.

We still have a very high number of hospitalisations and deaths. A quarter of hospital admissions for COVID-19 are in people under the age of 55. Despite the speed of the rollout, these are people who will not have the vaccine for a while yet.

Some people are questioning the UK policy of trying to give as many at-risk people as possible the first dose of vaccine in the shortest possible time, inevitably extending the interval before the second dose is given.

But what none of these (who ask reasonable questions) will tell me is: who on the at-risk list should suffer slower access to their first dose so that someone else who’s already had one dose (and therefore most of the protection) can get a second? Everyone on the JCVI priority list is at risk from this nasty virus, and vaccines just can’t be produced at an unlimited rate.

It has been a very difficult year for us all and everyone, including me, is desperate to return to seeing the people we love. The vaccine has brought considerable hope and we are in the final furlough of the pandemic but for now, vaccinated or not, we still have to follow the guidance for a bit longer.

Look out for your blue envelope – although the first ones are white!

Appointments scheduled for next groups on the priority list

Blue envelopes containing an invitation to a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine appointment for people aged 70 -79 will start to land on doormats in several health board areas from tomorrow (Monday 25 January) – but, confusingly, the first batch will be WHITE!

A new booking system is being used by health boards in Lothian, Fife, Forth Valley, Ayrshire & Arran, Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Lanarkshire to schedule appointments for patients in order of priority. More boards are expected to make use of the technology as the vaccination programme expands.

The distinctive coloured envelopes will be delivered to households as the programme progresses though the different groups on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list. The letters will include information on how to reschedule an appointment if it is not suitable.

We are on track for all those aged over 80 to have received their first dose of the vaccine by the end of the first week in February.

No-one aged 80 or over should expect a blue envelope because they will be contacted directly by phone or letter.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “We all know how easy it is to ignore some of the mail which comes through our letterboxes but these blue envelopes will be very distinctive and they will contain details of your vaccine appointment so please open them.

“The letters are being posted First Class and we have been advised by the Royal Mail that the colour will allow them to prioritise delivery.

“The blue envelopes will contain information about the time and place of your appointment and details on how to reschedule it if you are unable to attend.

“I would urge everyone to take up their appointment when they are offered one.

“The vaccination programme is one of three key ways we are working to beat this virus, along with our expanded testing programme to identify cases and break chains of transmission and the important lockdown restrictions everyone in Scotland must follow. All these measures work to greatest effect when they work together.”

UPDATE: Sunday 24 January

The first tranche of letters will use NHS branded WHITE envelopes but distinctive coloured blue envelopes are planned to be used as soon as possible as the programme progresses though the different groups on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list.

The letters will include information on how to reschedule an appointment if it is not suitable.

Prime Minister: UK COVID variant ‘may be more deadly’

Early evidence suggests the variant of coronavirus that emerged in the UK may be more deadly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the nation last night.

The Prime Minister made the announcement in a televised statement from Downing Street:

Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have tried to update you as soon as possible about changes in the scientific data or the analysis.

So, I must tell you this afternoon that we have been informed today that, in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant – the variant that was first identified in London and the South East – may be associated with a higher degree of mortality, and I’m going to ask Patrick (Vallance) in a minute to say a bit more about that.

Because it is largely the impact of this new variant that means the NHS is under such intense pressure, with another 40,261 positive cases since yesterday. We have 38,562 COVID patients now in hospital, that’s 78 per cent higher than the first peak in April and, tragically, there have been a further 1,401 deaths.

So, it is more important than ever that we all remain vigilant in following the rules and that we stay at home, protect the NHS and thereby save lives.

But I also want to answer a key question that I know will be uppermost in your minds: All current evidence continues to show that both the vaccines we are currently using remain effective both against the old variant and this new variant.

And so, you will also want to know that our immunisation programme continues at an unprecedented rate.

5.4 million people across the UK have now received their first dose of the vaccine and over the last 24 hours we can report a record 400,000 vaccinations.

In England one in ten of all adults have received their first dose, including 71 per cent of over-80s and two thirds of elderly care home residents.

Having secured orders for hundreds of millions of doses, the U.K. government has supplied vaccines to the Devolved Administrations, according to population size.

First doses have been administered now to 151,000 people in Northern Ireland, 358,000 in Scotland and 212,000 in Wales.

And I am glad that the whole of the U.K. is able to assist the Devolved Administrations in deploying the vaccine and I know everyone across the country is grateful for the logistical skill of the British Army.

There is much more to do, and the target remains very stretching indeed, but we remain on track to reach our goal of offering a first dose to everyone in the top four priority groups by the middle of February.

And I want to thank all the doctors and nurses, especially at the GP-led sites who are vaccinating at a phenomenal rate, as well as, as I say, all those in our armed forces, our local authorities, our pharmacies and volunteers, who are making this extraordinary national effort possible.

And I want to thank all of you who have come forward to get your jabs, because, by doing that, you are protecting yourselves, your communities and, of course, our NHS.

And I say to everyone, when that letter arrives, please don’t hesitate to book that appointment and get this life-saving protection, because this is the best and fastest way for us all to defeat this virus and get our lives back to normal.

Commenting on the new variant of COVID-19 in the UK the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said: “The new UK variant comprises a significant number of the our cases.

“It is spreading 30 to 70% more easily than the old variant. It doesn’t differ in terms of age distribution to the original variant.

“When we look at severity and mortality, data for patients who are in hospital with the virus suggest the outcomes for those with the original variant look the same as the new variant. However, when looking at the data for people who have tested positive, there is an indication that the rate for the new variant is higher.

“Although these data are currently uncertain, it does appear that this variant has increased mortality compared to the old virus, as well as increased transmission. For context, with the original variant, if you took a group of 1,000 infected men in their 60s roughly 10 would die. But with the new variant, roughly 13 or 14 of that group might be expected to die.

“There is increasing evidence from studies that vaccines will still work against the UK variant.”

A paper from the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) on the new coronavirus (COVID-19) variant B.1.1.7 explains this further.

Roll Your Sleeves Up: Scottish Government launches vaccination information campaign

A new campaign encouraging people to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as they are eligible launches today.

The ‘Roll your sleeves up’ campaign will emphasise the importance of the vaccine and its safety, as well as the prioritisation list set out by Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to ensure those most at risk are vaccinated first.

Vaccination will be offered to 4.5 million people in Scotland and is currently underway for residents of care homes for older people and their carers, frontline health and social care workers, and those aged 80 years and over. Local delivery is being led by NHS boards, who will contact those eligible to arrange their vaccination.

Those aged 70 and over and the clinically extremely vulnerable, including those on the shielding list will receive their first vaccine dose by mid-February, those aged over 65 will receive their first doses by the beginning of March, and vaccination of the wider adult population will commence once the remainder of the JCVI priority groups are complete by early May.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “Vaccination offers us greater protection against COVID-19 and it offers us hope that this year will be a brighter one.

“It is another vital tool in our work to suppress the virus, but other measures including testing, and lockdown restrictions remain absolutely essential to suppress COVID to the lowest possible level in Scotland.

“These three critical actions will help us protect the NHS and save lives, towards a brighter year ahead. However, we don’t yet know how well vaccination stops people transmitting the virus to others – which is why it’s essential people protect the progress we’ve made, and continue to follow the restrictions currently in place, whether they have been vaccinated or not, while vaccine delivery is rolled out across the country.”

The ‘Roll your sleeves up’ campaign will run from today (21 January) to the end of March 2021 on TV, radio, press, outdoor and digital channels.

Interim Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Dave Caesar said: “No matter which vaccine you receive, each has passed a rigorous three-phase testing process, reviewed by independent regulatory and advisory bodies to ensure it is safe and effective.

“Your local NHS health board will be in touch with you to arrange your vaccination appointment when you are eligible, and I encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible to do so.

“However, vaccination on its own it won’t be enough to win the race against this virus.

“Each one of us needs to do all we can – following the guidance, abiding closely to the restrictions, washing our hands, wearing face coverings, maintaining 2m distance from each other – everything we can to slow down the spread of the virus and suppress its prevalence as low as we can, so that increasing vaccination can do the job we need it to do.

“Doing all of that will help you protect yourself, protect the NHS and save lives.”

The vaccination programme has given us much needed hope against #coronavirus.

But it's vital we stick to the rules.

Dr Nicola Steedman, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, explains more about the vaccines and continuing to follow FACTS ⬇

ℹ Learn more at https://t.co/p5uea5bHbk pic.twitter.com/CpK3WzbqSw
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) January 21, 2021

For more information visit nhsinform.scot/rollupyoursleeves or call 0800 030 8013.

Adult-information-covid-19-vaccine-leaflet-Jan2021 Download

A victory for common sense

GMB welcomes announcement to bring forward home care testing roll-out – but warns any failure will be met with action

GMB has warned the Scottish Government and local authority health and social care partnership (HSCPs) that any failures in the roll-out of COVID-19 workplace testing for home care workers “will be met with collective action”.

Following the threat of a full industrial action ballot by GMB members in Glasgow HSCP, Scotland’s biggest home care service, Cabinet Secretary Jeane Freeman confirmed at Friday’s press briefing that testing for all home care workers will be brought forward from March to Monday 18 January.

And after meetings between GMB, Scottish Government and COSLA representatives this morning, where assurances were given on the delivery of testing kits and support measures, the union has agreed to suspend next week’s scheduled industrial action ballot in Glasgow HSCP.

Rhea Wolfson of GMB Scotland Women’s Campaigns Unit said: “It’s a significant step forward for the safety of home care workers across Scotland in the fight against COVID-19 – our members have fought hard for this.

“But the Scottish Government and local authority employers have done more in a week than they have for ten months on testing for home carers, and neither should be congratulating themselves here.

“People should be asking why it’s taken nearly a year of struggle, and in the case of Glasgow HSCP to the brink of a strike ballot, for a workforce of predominantly low-paid women to get COVID-19 testing at work?

“GMB called for a national plan for social care last March, we called for testing, but the First Minister told us that Scotland was prepared for COVID-19. We know now the country wasn’t prepared and what we got was negligence while home carers struggled with only PPE for safety.

“The Scottish Government and HSCPs across Scotland should be well-aware that we will be carefully monitoring the roll-out of testing for our members and any failure to protect their safety and rights will be met with collective action.”

Police: Do the right thing this weekend

A statement from Edinburgh Police:

Last weekend saw an increase in people gathering at parks and open spaces in the city, particularly at Portobello Beach and the Meadows.

We fully recognise the impact the restrictions are having on people’s lives, but it is clear that significant sacrifices are vital to help suppress the spread of coronavirus.

The Chief Constable has made it clear that our approach throughout the pandemic has not changed and officers will continue to support people to follow the regulations and encourage them to take personal responsibility.

We will have increased patrols in our communities to explain the regulations and to encourage people to do the right thing.

Where officers encounter wilful breaches they will act decisively to enforce the law.

For the latest guidelines from the Scottish Government, visit its website here: http://ow.ly/VCDa50D8jZb

Coronavirus: ‘We MUST stay home’

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty writes about the UK’s battle with Covid-19

We have faced several grave moments during our battle against coronavirus. But right now, the country is perhaps facing the most serious yet.

The new, more transmissible variant of this disease is spreading rapidly across the country and having tragic consequences.

On Monday the 4 UK Chief Medical Officers and the NHS Medical Director recommended raising the national alert level to the maximum of level 5 for the first time.

This means that without further action there is a material risk of our healthcare services being overwhelmed within 21 days.

Since then the situation has deteriorated further.

Hospitals are always busy in the winter but the NHS in some parts of the country is currently facing the most dangerous situation anyone can remember. If the virus continues on its current trajectory many hospitals will be in real difficulties, and very soon.

This means that the time people wait for care will continue to increase to potentially unsafe levels, hospitals won’t have room to take redirected emergency cases in regional networks, staff to patient ratios which are already stretched will become unacceptable even in places likes intensive care.

There will be avoidable deaths. NHS staff are doing their absolute best, and working remarkably; we all owe them a huge debt of gratitude, but even they have limits.

The public have made an extraordinary effort so far. Of course we are all tired of restrictions, but we need to find the collective strength to get through this critical stage and save as many lives as we can.

The advice right now is unambiguous: to drive the numbers down, we must stay home except for work, exercise and essential activities. Every unnecessary interaction you have could be the link in a chain of transmission which has a vulnerable person at the end.

These restrictions will not last forever. Science has delivered new vaccines, drugs and tests, with more on the way, in record time. People will be reunited. Vaccines and new treatments offer us hope and a clear way out. But we are not there yet, and should not act as if we are.

We still have weeks to go before vaccines will start reducing COVID deaths and, some weeks later, the number of people being hospitalised. We cannot afford to let our justified optimism for the future come at the expense of difficult action today.

That means for now staying home and avoiding all unnecessary contacts. By following the rules, we will save lives and help normal life return more swiftly.