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Analysis: Grim Warning About Christmas Rules From Powerful Figures Within The Health World
By Thomas Moore, Science Correspondent
This is a rather grim warning coming from very powerful figures within the healthcare world, and they are united in believing that the government has been wrong to allow mixing over Christmas.
They warn that by the end of the year, the NHS is targeting 19,000 people in hospital with COVID, which will put great pressure on doctors and nurses, with a ripple effect on people with other conditions.
They are the ones who believe that they will suffer, because the priority will be to care for the sickest.
The waiting lists that have been shrinking for the past 20 years will be reversed, and they say they could reach 12 months in March.
That is why they are extremely concerned about the impact that a third wave would have on the health service.
They say Level 3 restrictions need to be tightened because of what has been happening in Kent – escalation cases even though they have been at Level 3 since early December.
And they’re saying they should reverse the “Christmas bubble” idea.
And scientists would back them, too: They believe the government has gone too far in lifting restrictions for Christmas and are urging people to act wisely.
David Nabarro, special envoy for the World Health Organization (WHO), previously told Sky News: “People in high-level positions say that actually people might want to decide to change their plans over the next few weeks, because they themselves they feel it is the right thing to do to change their plans.
“That is, they are making the decision not to depend on the restrictions imposed by the government, they are making their decisions based on what they believe is the right thing to do for themselves, their families, their communities and the nation.
“That’s where we need to get. We have to be able to deal with this virus through our own understanding of what is right, rather than simply relying on restrictions.”
Yesterday we heard from Health Secretary Matt Hancock that in some parts of the country the epidemic doubles every seven days.
Given that Christmas is just over seven days away, the virus will be twice as bad as it is now, when everyone starts moving across the country, seeing elderly family members and potentially putting them at risk.
They are the hospital patients, they are the people who may well end up dying sadly and becoming part of those horrible statistics that we hear on a regular basis, and it will continue to enter the New Year, this third wave that so many people are talking about now.
