Living on Plague Island

A personal evidence based perspective on living in the UK with a clinically vulnerable household member during a period when we are meant to be 'living with the virus'.

Uncategorized

  • Vaccination against COVID-19 – Where did the UK policy go wrong?

    In 2020 and 2021 the UK Government were keen to boost that they were world leaders in rolling out vaccination against Covid-19. It now seems like a very long time since those heady days of early 2021 when vaccination centres sprung up in the most unlikely of places across the country, staffed by NHS staff, Continue reading

    , ,

  • The BBC Strikes Again: Complaint

    This morning the BBC ‘struck again’ with an article on their News Website about Covid. Whilst the article does acknowledge that Covid is continuing to make people ill, sometimes for weeks, the BBC continues to avoid bringing in leading immunologists to comment. And they continue to cling onto the idea of achieving some kind of Continue reading

    , ,

  • The ONS Winter Covid-19 Infection Survey – update

    A previous blog ‘The new winter infection survey: light at the end of the tunnel” discussed proposals for a new slimmed down, more limited version of the previous infections survey in order to track the levels of Covid this winter. According to the ONS statistical release calendar, the first results were due to be published Continue reading

  • Is there an Immunity Debt?

    The last few weeks have seen a frenzy of media reports about the clusters of pneumonia cases amongst children in parts of China and in the UK and elsewhere as well as a general rise in infections which the media has variously labelled’ long cold’, ‘new Covid’ and similar. These apparent rises in infections has Continue reading

    , , , , ,

  • Preventing Hospitalisations and Deaths – Antivirals

    Antivirals are a key method of preventing clinically vulnerable people from being hospitalised and/or dying if they are unfortunate enough to catch Covid. Antivirals are often used in hospitals but drugs such as paxlovid are also available for some lucky people to use at home, although they need to be used in the early stages Continue reading

  • The Covid-19 Inquiry : Module 2 : Early November update

    Last week was the start of what proved to be the most high profile week of public hearings of the inquiry so far. Several high profile figures appeared including Dominic Cummings. In this blog I briefly discuss the extraordinary nature of the hearings before moving on to discuss two key issues: 1. the lack of consideration Continue reading

  • Is Sweden a Shining Example?

    A great deal has been written about Swedens approach to the pandemic. Indeed, critics of compulsory lockdown tend to grasp at the Swedish case as an example of how we should be approaching pandemic management in the future. But how good an example is Sweden? In an interview in the Telegraph recently, Jenny Harries, Head Continue reading

  • Protecting the Clinically Vulnerable in Healthcare settings

    It is not rocket science to work out that healthcare settings are potentially dangerous places where Covid and other viruses can spread. Over the course of the pandemic measures aimed at making healthcare safe have been removed with the result that many clinically vulnerable families avoid attending healthcare settings in person. This blog discusses some Continue reading

  • Complaint to the BBC

    As discussed in my previous blog of yesterday – Don’t Look Up: 2023 in Denial, the BBC have this morning published a disgraceful inaccurate and misleading piece on the Changing Nature of Covid. Despite the fact that it is a sunny Autumn day perfect for a long walk, I and many other people I know Continue reading

  • Don’t Look Up! : 2023 In denial….?

    The Pandemic has had a profound impact on many people, not least from the bereavement of family members, anxiety about health, isolation and loneliness. It is understandable that people want to get back to ‘normal’, though it is very unclear what this means. We have very little reliable information on public attitudes to the UK’s Continue reading

GILLIAN SMITH About Me

I am a semi retired social researcher and have previously held a number of senior social research positions in Whitehall Departments. See an interview with me here. I live in a London suburb with my husband who has suffered multiple serious illnesses over the last few years. I myself am living with MND.

This series of blogs represent a personal, evidence based perspective based on living in the UK at a time when we are all meant to be ‘living with COVID’. Although I am a social scientist by training, I have worked closely with people from different disciplines throughout my career in order to present a complete picture of the evidence on specific policy issues. I am therefore scientifically literate but where I quote evidence based on research beyond my particular expertise it is always validated with relevant experts. I am a member of the Clinically Vulnerable Families group, though please note that the information presented here and any views expressed are my own. We are a friendly, supportive group and can be found via Facebook in private mode or in public mode via X (formerly twitter) Or BlueSky.Social

.

Recent Posts

Newsletter