The effectiveness of face masks in preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been much debated, but there seems to be an emerging consensus that they’re more effective than the authorities believed (or professed to believe) at the beginning of the outbreak. This is important because if masks are a bulwark against infection they could play a critical role in the exit strategy. As a general rule, those developed countries that have imposed less severe social distance measures than the UK are those with a much higher use of masks per capita, like Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Further Reading
‘Face masks: much more than you wanted to know‘ by Scott Alexander, Slate Star Codex, March 23rd 2020
‘Everyone Thinks They’re Right About Masks‘ by Ed Yong, The Atlantic, April 1st 2020
‘Data suggests masks matter, tests don’t‘ by John Hinderaker, Powerline, April 6th 2020
‘Face Masks Against COVID-19: An Evidence Review‘, Jeremy Howard et al., preprints.org, April 12th 2020
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The INFTO is a group of concerned nurses and healthcare workers from across Ireland. We would like to raise concerns about a number of issues that have taken place in our healthcare facilities since March 2020.
Some of the issues include but are not limited to:
https://infto.ie/
Of course, the background is that Ireland came nowhere near having an epidemic.
They’ve had a 1/4 reduction in hospital admissions between 2019 and 2020 however. So scared out of their wits has the population been to attend for normal concerns.
Good for you …. blowing those whistles loudly.
I salute you.
The report is about as damning as you can possibly get and will no doubt mirror the vaccine’s toll in the UK if the information was ever to be revealed. And although it’s uncomfortable to acknowledge this is beginning to look like a murderous conspiracy with the full complicity of some of the medical profession. We need nurses and doctors in the UK to find a conscience and spill the beans as well. Since the MSM has gone full Goebbels they need to access alternatives and real journalists and do it now.
Dr Shipman’s got nothing on the murderers we’re dealing with now:
https://dailyexpose.co.uk/2021/06/13/stay-at-home-protect-the-nhs-give-midazolam-to-the-elderly-and-tell-you-they-are-covid-deaths/
Anyone who hasn’t been made aware of it yet, prosecution is being brought against Hancock & co. for what is described as mass murder by policy. It’s described in the above article – pay particular attention to the video with Hancock talking to a very enthusiastic MP called Dr Evans, describing their administration of midazolam to the reallocated hospitalised elderly to care homes as a “good death”.
And anyone who still thinks Hancock was sacked/resigned because of the bizarre revelation of an affair perfectly caught on a “hidden” camera is still living in the fantasy world created by TPTB.
“the impact of the pandemic on mental health referrals in England seems less clear when looking at the entire year.”
I’m afraid that’s inevitable. We are getting a partial picture of the disastrous impact of policies in every field. The true dimension of the cock-ups is hidden in the collateral damage to proper data collection and analysis : starting with the basic one of the actual extent of Covid illness (all we know is that all indications show a vast overestimate).
When it comes to the already impoverished mental health services, one can guess that self non-referral is probably worse than for physical illness.
But, hey-ho, why worry? I’m sure another round of clapping will make it all OK.
Unreal that everyone was outside clapping and cheering and in some instances I’ve seen, quite literally worshipping, a service that abandoned us, gave us the finger and carried on drawing salaries and accruing pension benefits whilst we were left to rot. We all know that lots of staff in A&E worked incredibly hard, (but then so did shop staff, etc.- without protection or acclaim), but equally we all know that mostly they shut up shop. I know more than one person working in the NHS that was embarrassed by all this.
Locking people inside, conducting psychological torture on them and ensuring the rules change so often they have no ability to plan for the future and nothing to look forward to leads to mental health problems.
Astonishing, who could have predicted this?
This was inevitable, lays bare the mendacious nature of the evil thugs, and I don’t use those words lightly, in Government and SAGE spreading fear and uncertainly in the British Public. Never forget, never forgive! Some people will be mentally scarred for the rest of their lives by this.
and it’s even worse for the patients…
Happen I’m a bit deaf, but I didn’t hear mental health charities protesting to the government when all the people they were supposed to care about were abandoned by the National Hell Service.
Fake news keeps on blatantly lying
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-india-covid-surge-vaccine-coverage.html
India is preparing for another COVID surge: Low vaccine coverage leaves it vulnerable
Just staggering how far from truthful “The Con” (where this trash gets produced for “free”) seems to be.
The silent mental health problems are in the Cabinet.
According to the SNP lockdowns have been innovative and welcomed by the people. So good in fact that they should be used for other things.
And Guardian readers see lockdown as just “that time when I bought some DIY tools and never used them (silly me)”.
This is a tragic mess.
Guardian readers and power tools- now that is a crisis for the NHS…
Anything you can do, we Downunder can do better. Every national and state government in Australia is quick to brag about their record spending (‘investment’) on mental health but they are also contributing mightily to the demand side by pursuing endless lockdowns to achieve Zero Covid.
Calls to the suicide prevention hotline, Lifeline Australia, are up 18.9% during 2020 and 2021. On the one day of August 3rd, 2021 (when Australia’s three most populous states were in perma-lockdown), Lifeline achieved a 58-year record for volume of calls in one day. Beyond Blue, a depression hotline, has seen its calls increase by 30.7% on average call volume.
Kids Helpline reports 8% more children are calling to talk about self-harm and 33% more are calling about child abuse. The organisation also reports that teenage attempted suicide rates are up 184% and they have been dispatching 53 ambulances a week for kids in Victoria, alone, who have attempted suicide.
Still, if it saves just one false-positive PCR test, and just one politician’s re-election prospects, no doubt it is worth it.
I was surprised to see that the 2020 suicide numbers for Scotland, released this week, show a drop from 2019. I just can’t see how that is possible. My sister’s mate works in a hospital in the Highlands and says there has been a massive increase in suicides and suicide attempts but according to the official record there’s been a considerable reduction in ‘probable suicides’ there, from 67 in 2019 to 44 in 2020…
Pre-covid I might have balked at the suggestion that deaths would be wrongly classified to meet a particular objective, but that’s no longer the case. I’ll be interested to see if there’s been an increase in deaths listed under ‘undetermined intent’ and ‘accidental’.
I had a breakdown couple months back and taken care of by the nursing staff they were great I got loads of help since.