UK scientists warned that lifting all Covid-19 restrictions would be like building new factories at an extremely fast rate. They also said that Sajid Javid's attitude as the new health- and social care secretary is alarming.Javid wrote in the Mail on Sunday that the best way to safeguard the nation's health is to lift the Covid-19 restrictions. He said that the rules we had to create have led to a rise in domestic violence and had a devastating impact on people's mental health.Responding to the comments, Professor Stephen Reicher, University of St Andrews member of the Sage subcommittee advising in behavioural science, tweeted: It's frightening to have a Health Secretary who still believes Covid is flu. Who doesn't care about the severity of infection? Who doesn't realize that people who are best for their health also benefit the economy. It is hard to imagine anyone wanting to abandon all protections when only half of us have been vaccinated.It is scary to have a secretary of health who wants to make protections personal choices when the main message of the pandemic was that it isn't an I thing.The cabinet will sign off on Monday the relaxation of Covid restrictions in England. This includes allowing fully vaccinated adult to travel to amber list countries without needing to self-isolate upon their return; making face masks optional, except in hospitals; and not requiring adults who are fully vaccinated to undergo a Covid-19 test, self-isolate, or have come in contact with infected persons.Schools bubbles, which have forced thousands upon thousands of students to self-isolate at their homes if they were found to be positive, will also be eliminated. Pub and restaurant customers won't need to scan a QR code from the NHS when they arrive.Javid stated: It is important to understand that the number of cases will rise. It is understandable that many people will be cautious about the easement of restrictions. We must be open-minded and take a balanced look at the possibilities.We will have to accept Covid's existence and find ways to deal with it, just like we do with the flu.Professor Susan Michie, director of the Centre for Behaviour Change, University College London and another member Sages' behavioural science subcommittee tweeted: Allowing community transmission surge is like building new variant factory at a very rapid rate.Michie wrote a blog last week for the British Medical Journal. She was joined by Reicher and Professor Ann Phoenix from UCLs Institute of Education. They said that Javid's emphasis on individual responsibility to mitigate against Covid-19 risk, took away the focus from what the government should also do.They stated that if people want to be responsible, their government must fulfill its own responsibilities in order to promote safe behavior. It is possible that government talking about a day of freedom when all restrictions have been lifted doesn't mean the virus is gone. This doesn't mean that there are no measures to stop a resurgence.It does not mean that the government intends to withhold all support and leave us to manage the pandemic alone.Other scientists agreed that the lifting of some restrictions was sensible, even though they were not risk-free. Paul Hunter, professor of medicine, University of East Anglia, stated that people who have been twice vaccinated are less likely than others to contract an infection.He also said that the extra risk of wearing a relaxed mask was not likely to be great, but it was sensible for vulnerable groups to wear them indoors in crowded environments and for those visiting very vulnerable individuals indoors, at least while community rates remain high.Although the school bubble system had some merit, if you accept that we will all get Sars-CoV-2 infected again and that it is unlikely we will vaccinate our children below 11, or from 11-16, then this can only be described as delaying the inevitable. Hunter stated that this is causing a lot of disruption and providing little benefit. It is possible to rely on daily testing for symptomatic people, but this is still open to discussion.We have already seen new problems during this epidemic. However, no one can predict the future. But we will eventually find an equilibrium with the virus, just as we did with other endemic respiratory infections.Professor Allyson Pollock of Newcastle University's clinical department of public health, agreed that Javids approach is sensible. She stated: A combination of vaccination and naturally acquired immunity is rapidly achieving population immunity. It is not known how long immunity lasts, what variants have an impact on it and who is most at risk for reinfection.At the local level, good infection control and outbreak prevention measures are important. Mass testing and daily testing should be stopped. Testing of symptomatic individuals is not helping to reduce transmission.
