Webchat with Dr Jenny Harries, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, Wednesday 25 March at 11.30-NEW ANSWERS ADDED

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We're pleased to announce a webchat with Dr Jenny Harries, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, at 11.30am on Wednesday March 25.

Jenny Harries was appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England in July 2019, taking on a broad portfolio including the health service and commissioning support. Jenny’s previous roles include: PHE Deputy Medical Director, PHE Executive Lead for specialised commissioning and Welsh National Health and Healthcare Director. Alongside these roles, Jenny has been a member of the Welsh Medicines Committee and the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group. Jenny has an extensive clinical and public health background (BSc (Hons) Pharmacology; MPH; FFPH) and her work has extended overseas as far afield as New Zealand, Pakistan and Kenya. She was awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List for services to Public Health. She advises the government on its response to coronavirus.

Dr Harries' time is at a premium at the moment, to put it mildly, so we will only have her for 45 minutes.

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

*[Message edited by MNHQ to give the preferred title of Dr rather than Professor]

From Gransnet user Vampirequeen:

What are the symptoms of a mild CV infection? I've had a weird cough and sore throat but it's not all the time. This has been on and off for the last week or so. I have also partially lost my sense of taste which I read today may also be a symptom. My husband has no chest/throat symptoms but is very tired all the time, has pains across his shoulder blades and his chronic lower back pain is much worse for no apparent reason. Are these the signs of a mild CV infection? We're isolating but it's confusing because we don't know what mild CV looks like.

From Gransnet user grannyactivist:

The coronavirus currently has a disproportionately detrimental effect on older people, particularly those with underlying health issues. What are the possibilities that, as it continues to spread, the corona virus might mutate into a form that will have a more serious effect on the health of younger people?

From Gransnet user JoyBloggs:

Thank you for all your hard work and clear advice during this emergency.

I know people who are going to very great lengths to clean/sanitise their shopping deliveries whilst others say they're just unpacking it and storing it as usual. What is your advice?

Also, (apologies if this is a stupid question, have googled unsuccessfully)... can the virus survive frozen? For example, if I were to put a pack of frozen food into my freezer that had just been sneezed on by a delivery person incubating Covid-19, could the virus be reactivated in the future when the item was defrosted?

Thankyou for your work, you must be so busy.
What advice would you give to a separated couple with children? I know that children are technically allowed to move between households in this scenario. However my kids move frequently (two nights at a time in each household) and my ex is a key worker who is still regularly commuting by tube. I feel my kids would be safer with me. I am also worried they will bring it into my household as I am sole carer for my elderly father (who lives a car trip away).
What do you advise would be safest?

Thank you for everything you are doing Jenny, your advice is always so clear and unambiguous.

My question is about the mass texts. There seems to be confusion around the two different texts people are receiving, the government one and the NHS medical condition one. For example our neighbours had assumed the mass government text was actually the medical condition text.

To add to the confusion my husband and I each received both texts. He rang our practice today and mentioned that he had received the 'medical condition' text. The receptionist said that everyone had received this additional text and the practice will be sending letters to people with a medical condition. I assume that isn't correct, that everyone hasnt had the medical condition text? I'm an life long NHS employee, and even I'm completely confused now!

Can you clarify what people should do who have had the medical condition text? Should they ignore it and await a letter as the receptionist has said?

Thank you

Hello Dr Harries,

I would like to know whether you will be publishing the criterion used to place people into the "shielded" group?

My daughter has severe asthma, and from the information on the Asthma UK website would be included. However, we have not had a text message, or received a letter. She was under Consultant care for this until we moved areas.

It appears from reading comments online that others have found the same, and are struggling to get any clarification from their GP surgery.

I am awaiting a telephone call from mine tomorrow, but it would be helpful to have some guidance to quote (such as a NICE flowchart).

Thank you for your time.

Hello,

My question is regarding labour & birth. I am due to have my baby in just over 1 week, I have a child from a previous relationship and the plan was for the child to go to their dads house whilst I am in labour, as per the guidelines that say a child can move between split parents houses. My childs dad is refusing to see her during the lockdown, when I go into labour will this be seen as an exceptional medical circumstance meaning that I can take my child to their aunts house to be cared for there? I really want my husband by my side in labour and delivery and he really doesn't want to miss the birth of his first child with me. Thank you

Hi all,
Dr Harries is ready to go and will kick off shortly. Please do bear in mind we're all working remotely so it's possible that this chat won't be quite as rapid fire as previous ones because there will likely be a few challenges but of course we'll try to get through as many questions as we possibly can. Big thanks.

Hello everyone, thank you for all your questions – I’m looking forward to answering them and will try and get through as many as possible.

Both over 70. Hubby has diabetes heart murmur & Barretts. I have asthma. Should I continue to Do my own food shopping taking social distancing measures as far as possible?

Hello. I'm an NHS consultant, semi-retired but in good standing with my College, doing locums till recently.

I've had a severe viral-type illness for 5 days.

My husband is high-risk.

If I knew I'd had Covid-19 I could make myself very useful to the Trust, covering for sick or absent colleagues.

Is serological testing going to be available soon?

Thanks

@NeurotrashWarrior

Hello Professor Jenny,

Thank you for all your hard work.

Do you envisage the antibody tests to be rolled out nation wide or only for certain professions/ conditions?

Thanks for your question, we are currently developing the testing criteria for this test but it will serve two different purposes. The first one will be to check to see whether people have had COVID-19 disease. Initially this needs to be for front line health and care staff so we can manage patients and vulnerable people safely and keep our NHS and care systems running. But we will be able to roll out to other people after that.
The second reason is to get to understand who has been affected throughout our population so we get a better picture of the transmission of the disease across the country . This will help us manage the end of the outbreak and get us all back to normal.

Hello Jenny

Are you stocking are drugs ? What can we do to boost our health obviously our diet is lacking as we can't get any fresh fruit and vegetables as easily as before.

* Are you stockpiling drugs ? should read as **

Would it be correct to say the more people in a big and densely populated city like London are infected with covid-19 the more „air is dense with virus particles” around us?

Another question - where is all the paracetamol? Calpol is like gold dust.

@defthand

Thank you for your hard work at this difficult time, Professor.

My question is about testing — Matt Hancock recently stated in Parliament that testing was reserved only for ICU patients “at the minute”. When do you anticipate expanded testing to be be rolled out, and will we ever see the drive-through testing available in other countries like the US and South Korea implemented here?

At the moment we need to make sure the patients who need the most clinical care are prioritised. That means we test patients in ICU and being admitted to hospitals with pneumonia as a priority. Also those who are in some special settings like care homes and prisons to make sure we keep a tight lid on possible mini outbreaks. We also are increasingly offering to support our hard working health and care colleagues so they can stay safely in work.

However we have some very advanced plans, including some current evaluation, of new processes for testing to see if you have the disease at the time you have the test. One model for this is a drive through version and, although we need to keep our healthcare workers at the top of the list, gradually we should be able to extend to more of the population

@TheLongDarkBreakfastTime

From your latest modelling (and understanding all the caveats about how it could well be wrong, given our current lack of knowledge about covid-19), when do you expect the peak to hit? And when do you expect it to come back down to manageable levels (leading to loosening of restrictions)?

That's a really tricky question because the whole purpose of our interventions - the social distancing measures and keeping washing our hands and coughing and sneezing into tissues etc - are all designed to move the peak. What we hope is that in about two to three weeks, if people have continued to do as we have asked and cut down their social interactions, we would start to see a change in the slope of the graph. That means the peak will be pushed forward but the height of it will be lower and we can manage all those who need hospital and health care safely through our NHS.

Hello,
I'm 28 weeks pregnant, high risk, IVF and miscarriage history.
I'm very upset that all my scans and ante-natal appointments (Tunbridge Wells) have been cancelled until 36 weeks. I feel this is putting my life and my baby's at risk and pushing me to seek private care in London, thus exposing me further to the virus. Does the government feel it is a fair way to treat pregnant women? If I went in wearing protection and the doctor wears protection too, then would it not be safe? thank you.

@ScrimpshawTheSecond

Hello, thank you for all that you do.

A practical question- if one has symptoms should we be isolating from family members of the same household within the house? Is there guidance on that?

Short answer is you should all be isolating. We think that people are most infectious in the early part of the illness pretty soon when they get symptoms so as soon as you have these you should stay right at home and off work and your whole household unit should stay with you for 14 days. This should mean that any of them who are likely to get ill themselves will develop symptoms in that time and keep everyone else outside safe. There is some guidance on this at
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

[quote StressoeZoe]Thank you to you and all your NHS colleagues. This is my question

If you became the only person available to provide care to someone in their 90s (health issues, early dementia, needs full time care), how long in true self-isolation and if you were symptomless would you wait before going?

Government suggests 7 days is enough. I've read 24 days incubation period (see link below) but this seems rare. If this terrible situation occurred, I was thinking that maybe 14 days would be enough coupled with as much social distancing as is possible in a care situation for a futher 7 days (so wearing a mask, not sharing bathrooms, not eating together, lots of hand washing - that type of thing).

Or should people wait a full 24 days?

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-incubation-period-symptoms-china-sars-length-days-time-a9326591.html[/quote]

I think what you are asking is, if you have had symptoms yourself and are presumed to have had Covid-19 coronavirus illness then how long should you stay away from somebody more vulnerable. The answer to this is you should self isolate for 7 days and most people will get over their symptoms in that time and will not be transmitting virus by the 8th day in a way which is likely to cause illness in someone else. If you are not fully recovered then you should wait until your symptoms have gone - you might have a little bit of a cough left which is ok but most people are fine at this point.

However if you are meaning you have been exposed to someone else in your family who has had coronavirus illness and you have gone through 14 days incubation period without any symptoms, then it is very unlikely you have disease and you can help support your elderly person. Even where there have been reports of the virus being around a bit longer than this in rare cases, it is unlikelythat disease can be transmitted

Hi Jenny,

My other half is still having to go to work. He is part of a small tree surgery team who come under the umbrella of a larger company. Some of the other teams could be considered ‘key workers’ eg mowing then grass of roundabouts and road sides but my other half doesn’t carry out essential or emergency works.
Yesterday he was sent home under a 3 week shut down only to be rung back in the afternoon to be told ‘business as usual tomorrow, we’ve found a loophole’.

Due to the ‘key workers’ in the company, everyone is still having to work. Is there anything we can do about this? He really doesn’t have to be there!

@ScrimpshawTheSecond

Hello, thank you for all that you do.

A practical question- if one has symptoms should we be isolating from family members of the same household within the house? Is there guidance on that?

@DrJennyHarries

[quote StressoeZoe] Thank you to you and all your NHS colleagues. This is my question

If you became the only person available to provide care to someone in their 90s (health issues, early dementia, needs full time care), how long in true self-isolation and if you were symptomless would you wait before going?

Government suggests 7 days is enough. I've read 24 days incubation period (see link below) but this seems rare. If this terrible situation occurred, I was thinking that maybe 14 days would be enough coupled with as much social distancing as is possible in a care situation for a futher 7 days (so wearing a mask, not sharing bathrooms, not eating together, lots of hand washing - that type of thing).

Or should people wait a full 24 days?

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-incubation-period-symptoms-china-sars-length-days-time-a9326591.html[/quote]

I think what you are asking is, if you have had symptoms yourself and are presumed to have had Covid-19 coronavirus illness then how long should you stay away from somebody more vulnerable. The answer to this is you should self isolate for 7 days and most people will get over their symptoms in that time and will not be transmitting virus by the 8th day in a way which is likely to cause illness in someone else. If you are not fully recovered then you should wait until your symptoms have gone - you might have a little bit of a cough left which is ok but most people are fine at this point.

However if you are meaning you have been exposed to someone else in your family who has had coronavirus illness and you have gone through 14 days incubation period without any symptoms, then it is very unlikely you have disease and you can help support your elderly person. Even where there have been reports of the virus being around a bit longer than this in rare cases, it is unlikelythat disease can be transmitted

If you have a very vulnerable high risk person in your family, you should really try to make sure they are as isolated as possible for their protection - so absolutely scrupulous hand washing and using different bath towels etc. and supporting them where feasible to be in their own room.
Just to add if you are really good at this and you try whenever possible to keep a 2 metre distance between your family members and are really careful about coughs and sneezes you can avoid transmission in your own family and through that you will help reduce the disease numbers right across the population

@Pattus

Both over 70. Hubby has diabetes heart murmur & Barretts. I have asthma. Should I continue to Do my own food shopping taking social distancing measures as far as possible?

Hello. It sounds like you have a lot of different underlying medical conditions between you and therefore it is more important for you both to really cut down on social distancing whenever you can.
Going to the shops means that you will inevitably be meeting with other strangers and although you can take precautions to go at a quieter time of the day and stay 2 metres apart from other shoppers, it would be much better if you follow the advice, stay at home and get someone to help get your shopping in for you. This might mean ordering on line and the delivery agent will drop on your doorstep, or it might be a family member or friend. If this is not possible new volunteer groups are being organised in each council area and they may well be able to help you.

@MummaPI

Hello Doctor Harries, Thank you for all your advice and hard work to you and your team. My husband and I are key workers (train driver and teaching assistant) but also have two young children. We are worried about bringing home the virus and have been talking about minimising contamination by stripping off and washing clothes straight away. Can you offer any more advice on what we could do to be the most protected we can be please?

We think the virus actually lasts less time on soft materials such as clothing than it will on hard surfaces but it is fine to change your clothes at the end of the day and pop them in a washing machine. Best not to shake them out before you put them in and you can use a normal cycle.
However the really much more important thing to do is to ensure that the whole family, including your kids, wash your hands really thoroughly for at least 20 seconds far more frequently than you usually do. This will stop you putting dirty hands up to your eyes, mouth or nose and accidentally passing on the virus if it is on any surfaces. You should wash those down as well with your normal household cleaners