Scientists Say U.K. Must Do More to Suppress Coronavirus
(Bloomberg) --
The U.K. government must do more to suppress the coronavirus rather than just managing its spread if it wants to prevent a resurgence of outbreaks as the country eases its lockdown, according to a group of top scientists.
The recommendation is one of 18 published Tuesday by the group, known as Independent SAGE, set up as an alternative to the U.K. government's official Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Covid-19 advisory panel. Other recommendations: doubling quarantines for symptomatic people to 14 days and more accurate data presented by statisticians, rather than government, at daily briefings.
“We detect ambivalence in the government's strategic response, with some advisers promoting the idea of simply ‘flattening the curve' or ensuring the National Health Service is not overwhelmed,” the group, led by former government Chief Scientific Adviser David King, said in the report. “We find this attitude counter-productive and potentially dangerous. Without suppression, we shall inevitably see a more rapid return.”
The 13-member panel was created by King in response to a lack of transparency from the government over who it was taking advice from and what that advice was, as ministers repeatedly said they were following scientific recommendations. After a spate of criticism, the government published a partial list of SAGE members and some meeting minutes last week.
“SAGE is providing advice to government and it is comprised of pre-eminent experts from across the worlds of academia, with diverse expertise covering everything from vaccinology and epidemiology, to behavioral science and serology,” a government spokesperson said. “This is a new virus and the science is emerging, so SAGE is happy to receive scientific input from any group, as it already does.”
At an hour-long virtual press conference Tuesday, King said his panel was “not happy” about the government's initial decisions on the pandemic to stop testing and aim for some degree of herd immunity -- which the government insists was never official policy. King also said the government “must prepare for recurrent outbreaks for at least a year.”
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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