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'.

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  • The New ONS Winter Infection Survey : Light at the End of the Tunnel?

    Previous posts on this site have detailed the declining amount of data available to track what is happening with Covid in the UK and to inform our assessment of how safe we are at various points in time. However, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. It has been decided to Continue reading

  • UK Covid Inquiry – What have we learnt so far?

    The Covid Inquiry commenced its public hearings on Module 1 – Resilience and Preparedness in June 2023. Inquiry hearings will resume with Module 2 on ‘Decision Making and Governance’ on 3 October. The hearings are chaired by the head of the inquiry, Heather Hallett, an experienced lawyer and highly regarded politically astute operator. Certainly the Continue reading

  • Into the Autumn ..

    I returned from my early September holiday on the Sussex coast of England recently. The sun is still shining, but it is beginning to feel decidedly like Autumn on the Covid front. Most major Western countries are seeing a rise in the level of Covid infections driven in the main by the Eris and Pirola Continue reading

  • Myth Busting Misinformation on Covid-19

    There is a huge amount of misinformation in circulation about Covid, possibly more than for any other area of social, economic and health policy in history.  This is partly driven by people who seek to actively mislead in a malicious way, particularly on social media. But it is also true that the mainstream media, particularly Continue reading

  • Heading Further into the Dark: Data on Covid

    As many people will be aware since our last blog ‘Heading into the dark’ the UK has gone far further than imagined in making it near impossible to judge what is happening with Covid and hence making it extremely difficult for the clinically vulnerable, and others, to weight up the risks of doing things. This Continue reading

  •  Avoiding Covid?

     Avoiding Covid?

    Please note this blog was updated and a revised in August 2024 The vast majority of the population of the UK have had at least one confirmed or suspected infection. But some people have never had Covid (including myself and my husband) and many have only had it once. In some cases never having Covid Continue reading

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  • Heading into the dark….

    On Thursday morning I received an email from the UK Office for National Statistics explaining that following on from the pausing of the world respected COVID-19 Infection Survey, they are ‘changing the survey’. This in effect is a significant scaling down and the letter went on to request that previous participants like myself continue to Continue reading

  • Letter to Jenny Harries, Chief Exec UK Health Security Agency

    In my frustration I fired off a letter to Jenny Harries. I am not holding my breath for a useful response but at least it makes me feel better …. 25 April 2023 Dear Dr Jenny Harries  Covid-19 Infection Survey I am writing regarding the UK Health Security Agency’s decision to pause the ONS Covid-19 Continue reading

  • Lets pretend it has gone

    ‘The pandemic is over – we are all back to normal – aren’t we? Why do we need to keep collecting data that just makes everyone’ depressed‘ ‘ ‘we need to stop talking about it’. In 2023 the UK government in it’s various guises has been systematically dismantling key sources of official data which enable Continue reading

  • Another Sudden Death

    ‘Have you heard about Paul O’Grady. What a tragedy. He was only 67. I suppose it is in the lap of the gods – any of us could drop dead tomorrow’ Yesterday the UK woke up to the news that much loved comedian Paul O’Grady had died ‘peacefully’ in the night aged 67. The above 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

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