,
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Secretary of
State for Health and Social Care’s statement on Covid-19, said:
***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***
The Secretary of State is now warning he expect infections to hit
100,000 a day. Is he saying that will be the peak and when will
we hit it?
With infections at 100,000 that translates to around 5,000 people
a day developing long term chronic illness. What will the long
Covid waiting list look like by the end of the summer?
He justifies allowing infections to climb so high by pointing to
the weakened link between hospitalisation and deaths.
And that we are building a protective wall. But the wall is only
half built.
We know from outbreaks in Israel and research that the Delta
variant can be transmitted through fully vaccinated people even
if they themselves don’t get sick.
So releasing controls on transmission will impact hospital
admissions. Hospital admissions are running at 323 a day, an
increase of 42 per cent in the last week. There are 330 people in
ICU with Covid, an increase of 27 per cent on last week
Given we know this will increase, what are the percentage of ICU
beds and general and acute beds that would need to be occupied
before in his view wider NHS care is compromised?
He wants to unlock because he wants to focus on the NHS backlog,
but the rising hospital admissions baked into the plan he has
chosen will mean operations cancelled, treatments delayed and
waiting time increasing.
Will he now be clear with patients waiting longer at risk of
permanent disability on that? I understand the rationale for his
announcement today.
But the biggest barrier to an effective isolation policy hasn’t
been the inconvenience but the lack of financial incentive to
stay home.
If we’re living with this virus, the days of people soldiering on
when unwell are over. Sick pay is vital to infection control,
getting back to normal depends on people feeling safe.
But does he also appreciate those who are immunocompromised or
for whom vaccination is less effective, will have their freedoms
curtailed by ditching masks on public transport?
Blood Cancer UK yesterday warned that people with blood cancer
will feel like their freedoms have been taken away when mask
wearing lifts.
It’s not good enough just to say to them travel or go to the
shops at less busy times.
Of course he understands the importance of masks because I’ve now
read his pandemic paper from Harvard where he praised the use of
masks.
But he also writes ‘changing course on policy making … is an
essential feature of good policy making.’
And he warns: “yet politicians find it hard” because of the
“tendency for decisions to become psychologically and emotionally
anchored”
I agree with him and I hope he agrees with himself as well.
Let’s have freedom but not a high risk free for all.
Keep masks for now; pay sick pay; and lets unlock in a safe and
sustainable way.
