Chris Whitty... Everything will be ok!

[Mumlove5]

Love

Justaboy ..agree.

That should have said love Professor Whitty

Since I watched the whole of this lecture the majority of my anxiety has calmed so much. I will always be sensible and incredibly careful but The Fear that has been ruling my life has mostly gone and for that I will always be grateful to him.

Now if he could make a short video about how much to worry about the chicken I had that was left in the sun for just under an hour, that would be amazing.

Fabulous. Thanks for posting, op. I feel immeasurably calmed by that.

What to believe?

It's a deadly virus where the projected deaths were 500 000 with no action or it is just a little virus where a few vulnerable people will die but we don't care about them anyway.

I LUFFS Chris Whitty!

Seriously Duchess ? A Karen meme?

I would think a lot more of him if he would step back from government and use his platform to say “people, I think you’ve been played”.

I suppose it’s fear of ending up like David Kelly. Does no one have a conscience any more though?

The video's gone unavailable? Was it just too sensible?

And - Karen memes suck - just don't.

Oh it's there now - must have been a glitch.

But how can he be so confident that he really understands the profile and reach of the virus and its long-term impact on the population? Myself and an increasing number of others who've been extremely poorly in the last 3-4 months and are still struggling to recover are only now starting to be recognised by doctors as genuine cases with a painful and demoralising complex post-viral syndrome. I don't share your confidence and I'm suspicious of the cheerleading that this thread is oozing. In my experience, Professor Whitty isn't as clued up as he appears to be I'm afraid.

And I'm expecting an inferno of flames for this post, but I'll just say this: most of you don't want to hear what people like myself are trying to tell you, but you'll hear more and more of it in the coming weeks and months. This isn't over by a long shot.

In my experience, Professor Whitty isn't as clued up as he appears to be I'm afraid

Can you explain a bit more of how you know this?

It’s important to remain positive. What he says is true. My concerns are because I’m healthy but vulnerable. I’d quite like to stay that way!

However it is positive and reassuring but not a reason to say there is no pandemic or reason for lockdown.

He also said this to Gresham College. So stay positive but safe!

“A second wave of coronavirus could be “more severe” than the first and may spread more rapidly if it arrives in winter, England’s chief medical officer has warned.

Every country seeking to ease lockdown measures now must negotiate an “extremely difficult balancing act” to keep the pandemic under control, Professor Chris Whitty said in an online Gresham College lecture.

In particular, the virus reproduction “R” number must be kept below one – meaning each infected person could expect to pass it to fewer than one other person on average.”

www.itv.com/news/2020-05-01/second-virus-wave-may-be-more-severe-than-first-whitty-warns/

If you look up his stance on Ebola, he then supported stringent testing, contact tracing and isolation.

He is absolutely not saying we should not be combatting this just because he’s being reassuring and positive.

Positivity is excellent but a couple of ott anti lockdown replies her are concerning. Don’t take it to mean what you want it to meab

From what he said, doesn’t it make more sense to wait until absolute number of cases is lower before lifting restrictions? At the moment I don’t think we are doing v well at isolate, test, trace. It would make it easier to do this if there were a lower absolute number of cases?

What impact does lifting restrictions and increasing infections have on the shielding population, who are likely to need to come into contact with the public when they access medical services?

Furthermore, given that number of cases differs regionally, does it make sense to lift restrictions according to geography - where cases are low. And start tracing efforts here? Doesn’t shutting borders/mandating quarantine help with the isolate, test, trace?

Everything you say makes sense Namenic
The answer to all your questions is yes. I'd wager that Whitty would agree.

What impact does lifting restrictions and increasing infections have on the shielding population, who are likely to need to come into contact with the public when they access medical services?
Possibly more importantly, what about the extremely vulnerable who aren't on the shielding list. UK media were yesterday reporting what's been known since February. Diabetes is one of the highest risk factors.

I’m a bit puzzled at a half-baked isolate, test, trace effort.

I can understand why you would want to do this even if you cannot eradicate. However, in order to do this, you need to get numbers down to a sensible level with testing and isolation protocols.

The cautions about comparing directly with other countries is valid - though I suspect it was to try and deflect criticism. To balance this I think it would have been good to discuss good strategies (applicable at our stage) found in the top performing countries eg universal mask wearing. What kind of rates of infection per capita did Denmark etc open schools?

Chris Whitty is a top guy. I love him, he’s so calm and knowledgable. My sister works with him and he is fabulous and unassuming in the area they work in together. Although he’s been taken away from that work and is on COVID 100% now. He is extremely clever and is able to explain things in a clear and basic way for non medics, which is no easy thing.

@baroqueandblue
I have read about this post viral fatigue. This isn’t a phenomenon exclusive to covid19. It may be that a larger percentage of people end up with it due to this being a novel virus. ME / CFS can be brought on by unresolved post viral fatigue.

If any new light can be shed onto cfs, I’m all for that having suffered from it myself for years.

Forgot to mention. I’m also a big fan. Calm, collected, measured. Such an unassuming guy, unforced in his delivery yet commanding a lot of respect.

He is extremely clever and is able to explain things in a clear and basic way for non medics, which is no easy thing.

Without coming across as patronising which is a skill.

Totally agree that it is reassuring. I also find the stats by age very reassuring for parents. The death rate for children was lower at the height of the pandemic than normal. Death rates rose in the over 45s, through the vast vast majority of deaths are in the over 70s. Although there is a lot of focus on care home deaths, life expectancy in a care home is a year or less. It is hardly surprising that they are badly affected by this, but totally misleading as to the risk profile for the population.

Praise God for Chris Whitty!