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I& #39;ve been following the Twitter discussion between @DAaronovitch and @JuliaHB1. Aaronovitch makes a perfectly reasonable request: if you want a policy of protecting vulnerable, what does that mean. So Twitter hivemind, here& #39;s my first stab and hopefully you can make it better.
Observation 1: Accept you can& #39;t guarantee anyone& #39;s safety with this virus. There is no perfect solution so let& #39;s not pretend otherwise. But there are things we can do.
Observation 2: the lockdown earlier this year wasn& #39;t exactly a rip-roaring success at protecting older ppl.
Observation 2: the lockdown earlier this year wasn& #39;t exactly a rip-roaring success at protecting older ppl.
Principle: this should be at all times about supporting older and vulnerable people so that they can avoid risk when they want to but also go out/meet people, accepting a certain degree of risk. There& #39;s obvious stuff like food delivery, but that& #39;s much better than in March.
Stop wasting test capacity on students and schoolchildren. The top priority must be regular testing of care and hospital staff with max 24-hour turnaround.
Fund live-in staff at care homes. Oil rig workers are paid top dollar to do two weeks on, two weeks off. Let& #39;s do that. Many staff will welcome the extra cash - double time? Not all will need to do it if others are tested.
Adequate PPE is a no-brainer.
Adequate PPE is a no-brainer.
Avoid agency staff moving from home to home without breaks and tests in between.
Make meeting others outdoors at care homes as easy as possible. I& #39;m sure most homes are already doing what they can on this front but let& #39;s not pennypinch.
Don& #39;t send any hospital patient into a home without a negative test first. There is a good reason to get older people out of hospitals - they can catch it there. But let& #39;s not make matters worse by sending infected people into homes.
Guidance on Vit D since 2016 has been older people (and more) should supplement, but it doesn& #39;t happen. It& #39;s a very cheap intervention. Evidence for it preventing many serious cases of Covid is at least as good as for masks stopping spread. That& #39;s a & #39;no regrets& #39; policy.
If I& #39;m talking rubbish, please tell me (in a constructive manner). But we should be focusing on reducing deaths, not obsessing about reducing cases.
