“Warnings of six-hour airport queues and chaos lasting for weeks” – The Transport Secretary has confirmed that after July 19th double-jabbed people won’t have to quarantine when they come back from amber-list countries, the Daily Mail reports. Expect chaos in airports
“Lifting Covid rules in England ‘will overwhelm testing capacity’” – Professor Jon Deeks has warned that at least 660,000 gold-standard PCR tests are likely to be needed each day if daily infections climb to as high as 100,000 during the Summer, according to the Guardian
“Delta variant is reinfecting people who have already had COVID-19” – A study published in Nature has found that people who have previously caught Covid are now more likely to be re-infected because of the Delta variant, the Telegraph reports, and a single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca provides just 10% protection against the mutation
“Rishi Sunak tells workers to get back to the office” – The Chancellor of the Exchequer is urging Brits to head back into the office as soon as the work from home guidance is lifted, the Telegraph says, arguing that it is “really important” for younger staff
“Sajid Javid mocks Matt Hancock’s affair with Gina Coladangelo” – Sajid Javid teased his predecessor during a video meeting yesterday, MailOnline reports, saying, as the meeting began, “I hope my camera is on… I mean the one on my laptop, not the one on the ceiling”
“Covid and schools: the evidence for reopening safely” – Cassandra Willyard details the studies which suggest that rates of Covid transmission are lower in Schools than in the community for Nature. “It’s safer for them to be in school than to be outside of school,” says Paediatrician Daniel Benjamin, one of the quoted experts
“Embracing pandemic uncertainty in science, society and policy – A study by Dr. Colin Foad in Royal Society Open Science exploring why the lockdown policy enjoyed so much public support. We find “that people supported lockdown, in essence, because it exists”
“Universities to defy Government advice and keep online learning” – Nearly all Russell Group Universities have said that they would adopt “blended learning” in the coming academic year, the Times reports, despite the Education Secretary saying they can go back to in-person teaching. Needless to say, undergraduates will still pay £9,250 a year in fees
“Watching Euros may be behind rise in infections in men” – Men were 30% more likely than women to test positive for the virus in the past two weeks, according to the React study. The BBC suggests it might be because so many men have been getting together to watch the football
“Why doctors have chosen to delete Test and Trace app” – “When I downloaded the NHS Test and Trace app I thought I was doing something sensible, diligent and public-spirited,” says Dr Max Pemberton in the Daily Mail. But then he began to realise that “it wasn’t so simple”
“Elderly people imprisoned in care homes never had a chance to rage against the dying of the light” – The average care home resident “has a life expectancy of just two-and-a-half years”, writes Dr. Tessa Dunlop in Mail+. “But in our new normal, it mattered not if they died alone, scared and confused, so long as their death did not push Britain further up the premier league of Covid failed states”
“Freedom Day… or a temporary reprieve?” – “We may allow ourselves… a brief period of rejoicing”, say the Health Advisory & Recovery Team of ‘Freedom day’, but they point out that “many stark abnormalities will remain from July 19th onwards”. Part of HART’s latest newsletter
“Why we should stop testing in schools” – “We could stop screening children for Covid altogether,” say Dominic Wilkinson, Jonathan Pugh and Julian Savulescu in the Conversation, and keep them out of school if they are unwell. “This is the way we normally approach viral illness in children”
“Zero Covid?” – In his latest post for Lockdown Satire, Andy Lambeth imagines the COBRA crisis meeting that would occur were COVID-19 suddenly to disappear
“Needled at lunch by my vaccine-zealot friends” – Kate Dunlop was looking forward to meeting up with some old friends, but their thoughts on lockdowns, vaccines and Covid passports took her by surprise. “I got the sense that I had become somehow alien,” she says in the Conservative Woman
“Israel registers two deaths for the first time in weeks” – Two people died of coronavirus in Israel early Thursday, the Jerusalem Post reports. The last time that two people succumbed to the virus within 24 hours was May 27th
“Fauci tells those hesitant to get vaccinated to ‘get over it’” – The Post Millennial highlights Dr. Fauci’s latest media appearance where he had a message for the as yet unvaccinated. “What is the problem? Get over it. Get over this political statement. Just get over it, and try and save the lives of yourself and your family,” he said
“New Documents Show Wuhan Lab Asked NIH Official for Information on Disinfectants” – Judicial Watch has obtained some more emails and documents from the National Institutes of Health about the Wuhan lab. Includes an email from the Vice Director of the Wuhan Lab asking an NIH official for help finding disinfectants for decontamination of airtight suits and indoor surfaces
“South Korea to raise COVID-19 curbs to highest level in Seoul, says PM” – Reuters reports that COVID-19 curbs have been raised to their highest level in Seoul and some neighbouring regions, meaning the closure of schools, nightclubs and bars, and restricting public meetings to two people after 6.00p.m.
“Why should we rely on mRNA vaccines?” – Last month the Australian Government announced that it would phase out the AstraZeneca vaccine and rely on the Pfizer and Moderna jabs instead. “However,” says Dr. Rocco Loiacono in Spectator Australia, “these mRNA inoculations are not without their problems, either”
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