143737
Book your tickets here to the FSU’s live discussion with Matthew Goodwin about his new book. Book your tickets here to the FSU’s live discussion with Matthew Goodwin about his new book. Book your tickets here to the FSU’s live discussion with Matthew Goodwin about his new book.
  • Log in
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Ban on Choral Singing During Lockdowns Based on Flawed Evidence

by Toby Young
19 November 2022 6:30 PM

Readers will recall the ban on singing of all kinds during the lockdowns and even after they were lifted because singing was supposedly a ‘transmission risk’. Turns out, this typical piece of Covid hysteria was based on a flawed study. The Church Times has more.

The ban arose out of reports in the United States in March 2020 that 52 of 61 singers who attended a rehearsal of the Skagit Valley Chorale, in Mount Vernon, Washington, had subsequently contracted Covid. The source was judged to have been a chorister at the practice who later tested positive for the virus, and was considered the super-spreader.

The Los Angeles Times carried the headline: “A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal. Now dozens of members have COVID-19 and two are dead.” An investigation by the county’s public-health officials was referred to in other scientific papers and widely disseminated, and, with a growing consensus that airborne droplets were spreading the virus, all indoor singing was banned.

It dealt a serious blow to many choirs, both professional and amateur. Scientific study accelerated. Two lay vicars from Salisbury Cathedral took part in rigorous trials at Porton Down, the MOD’s Science and Technology laboratory, to test how far airborne droplets could travel. These, and other studies commissioned by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, were reported eventually to have given the Government confidence to reconsider appropriate mitigations.

Now a review of the Skagit case by scientists at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), Brunel University, and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, has concluded that many of the choristers’ symptoms had started too early to have been caused by the rehearsal.

In a paper entitled “The Skagit County Choir COVID-19 Outbreak: Have we got it wrong?” they review and analyse the original outbreak data in relation to published data on incubation. They conclude that it was “vanishingly unlikely that this was a single point source outbreak as has been widely claimed and on which modelling has been based”.

An unexamined assumption led to “erroneous policy conclusions about the risks of singing, and indoor spaces more generally, and the benefits of increased levels of ventilation”, the paper says.

“Although never publicly identified, one individual bears a moral burden of knowing what health outcomes have been attributed to their actions. We call for these claims to be re-examined and for greater ethical responsibility in the assumption of a point source in outbreak investigations.”

One of the co-authors, Professor Robert Dingwall, of NTU, said on Wednesday that the speed with which the choristers were being infected and displaying symptoms was implausible, and did not fit the epidemic curve.

“All the ‘mights’ got turned into definite findings by the people who quoted [the original study],” he said. “We looked at it and saw the distribution of days on which the symptoms appeared, and realised they just couldn’t all have been affected at that rehearsal – the symptoms were just appearing too quickly.”

Worth reading in full.

Tags: Choral MusicLockdownsSingingSkagit County Choir

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Massachusetts’ Department of Public Health Installed Spyware on Millions of Android Phones Without Users’ Consent

Next Post

News Round-Up

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

10 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

 

DONATE

PODCAST

Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About Meghan and Harry’s Alleged Car Chase, Insane Immigration Under the Tories and the Sinister Closure of Triggernometry’s Bank Account

by Will Jones
23 May 2023
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editors Picks

Free Speech Union Wins Six-Figure Settlement For Sacked Civil Servant

28 May 2023
by Toby Young

News Round-Up

28 May 2023
by Toby Young

The French Show Us How to Deal With Eco-Loon Protesters Blocking Roads

27 May 2023
by Will Jones

Anti-Ulez Protesters Warn of French-Style Unrest as London Cameras Vandalised

27 May 2023
by Will Jones

Watch: Moment E-Bike Explodes into Fireball in Block of Flats

27 May 2023
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

31

Anti-Ulez Protesters Warn of French-Style Unrest as London Cameras Vandalised

28

The French Show Us How to Deal With Eco-Loon Protesters Blocking Roads

31

Free Speech Union Wins Six-Figure Settlement For Sacked Civil Servant

14

Starmer Will Block All New North Sea Oil and Gas Developments

10

Why Should I Spend £40,000 Making My House More Energy Efficient, Given It Will Take 25 Years to Earn That Back in Savings on My Energy Bills?

28 May 2023
by Guy de la Bédoyère

Deliberately Exaggerating the Risks of Climate Change is Undermining Public Trust in Science and Destroying Young People’s Mental Health

28 May 2023
by Chris Morrison

Free Speech Union Wins Six-Figure Settlement For Sacked Civil Servant

28 May 2023
by Toby Young

Lockdowns “Harmed Hundreds of Millions of People for Years to Come” – Major Study

27 May 2023
by Will Jones

A Dispatch From the Woke Wars

27 May 2023
by Toby Young

POSTS BY DATE

November 2022
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  
« Oct   Dec »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Please note: To be able to comment on our articles you'll need to be a registered donor

Already have an account?
Please click here to login Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment