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‘Very little evidence’ for using masks in schools, says Tory govt – ignoring major studies by leading virologists showing kids carry and transmit C19 as easily as adults

Scottish government says masks must be worn in schools in communal areas, but English government says no and claims there is no evidence to suggest they should be – ignoring major international scientific studies

Despite the decision of the Scottish government to mandate the wearing of masks in communal areas of schools, the Tory government has not followed suit, even though the incidence of the coronavirus is much higher in England.

The UK government claims that there is no evidence to support the use of masks and one of its ‘SAGE’ advisers told BBC viewers the same this morning:

But the idea that there’s no evidence for masks in schools is nonsense. Apart from the fact that Scotland and a string of other countries either require or recommend their use, ‘the science’, as the Tories are so fond of calling it, is clear.

Internationally-renowned virologist Christian Drosten’s school studies have made clear that the virus is spread to and by children just as easily in adults, while epidemiologist Dr Zoë Hyde’s studies have revealed that huge numbers of infections in children have been missed.

Even the US CDC recommends the use of masks in schools – yet the Tories, backed by Establishment Labour – are pushing children and staff back into school without even that basic protection.

And the Tories can’t and don’t even deny that their plan will drive infection rates – with the ‘R’ rate already over 1 – higher still, fuelling the second wave and inevitably costing lives, of older people but also of children.

Johnson and co are still pursuing their ‘herd immunity’ plan, even though they know it has and will continue to cost thousands of needless deaths.

And he’s not even sorry.

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63 comments

  1. Some schools over here in the Wee Six are making it compulsory as well. I get the distinct impression that the Tories want as many weans to catch and spread this virus and push “Herd immunity”. Another lockdown looms.

    1. I’ve heard from both NHS and Supermarket (Morrison’s) sources that it’s pencilled-in for November…

  2. None of this is really anything to do with science. As I posted yesterday: ( https://lovesexwomenmenpoliticspoetrylifedeath.wordpress.com/blog-feed/ )

    Asymptomatic Children Are Not Dangerous?

    Really? After months of being told that this virus is primarily conveyed by touch and to repeatedly wash our hands, this morning I heard one of the government’s tame professors on Radio 4 say that because asymptomatic children “are not coughing and snotting” they are far less likely to spread Covid 19.

    Forgive me, but this is making it up as you go along. How can anyone have any confidence in this plan when the ‘facts’ are changed all the time to suit what the government wants to do? We’ve seen it with face masks, ‘ineffective’ when there weren’t enough of them for essential services, then ‘compulsory’ as soon as they were plentiful.

    Obviously this virus is still spread by touch, and our learned professors government spin is reprehensible. And children in school will touch things in school, and will touch each other, whatever the restrictions that pertain.

    And of course, asymptomatic spreaders cannot be identified as they have no symptoms, so we don’t know who they are, which, in my humble view, would seem to make them even more dangerous. We are seeing farce in action. But dangerous farce, farce which will cause the deaths of some people who are now alive, and long term debilitating disability in others who will survive the virus but make a partial recovery.

    Why would anybody, anybody trust this government? As for trusting Boris Johnson, now leading the push to pressure parents to put their children and teachers at risk, well really, it’s like putting Jimmy Saville in charge of a kindergarten.

  3. https://www.rcreader.com/commentary/masks-dont-work-covid-a-review-of-science-relevant-to-covide-19-social-policy
    There are plenty of studies done on influenza and colds that claim masks don’t work. Just like everything else about this outbreak, what you believe is what you want to believe because there are claims, counterclaims and propaganda.
    Personally I don’t mind wearing a mask on busses but find myself constantly fiddling with it, so my fingers would probably transfer any virus particles. I do think they offer protection from people sneezing and coughing though.

    1. Also. Don’t forget that you can become infected through your eyes. Try and stop children touching their faces. And girls will be constantly retouching their makeup.
      Masks in school is silly.

    2. Predictably enough the idea of wearing masks, which is at worst, a sensible precaution against the most obvious way of spreading the virus- not an absolute solution but something which is clearly helpful – has aroused the ‘libertarian’, eugenicist, herd immunity faction.
      Full marks to qwertboi for managing to defend the government and attack it at the same time- in fact qwertboi, the government is in full agreement with your herd immunity strategy. And most of those marching in Brian’s demo are going to be right wing libertarians, with a deep seated distrust of social action of any kind.

      1. Predictably enough the idea of wearing masks is enthusiastically grasped by the liberal “soft left” who love any controlling authoritarian policies.

      2. ” And most of those marching in Brian’s demo are going to be right wing libertarians with a deep seated trust of social action of any kind. ”
        Unfortunately, I have not organized the demonstration I wish I had. Moreover, neither I nor the organizers of it are privy to the political affiliations of the people who will be at the march at on the 29.08.2020 at 12pm at Trafalgar square London. If you have prior information as to who will be attending and what their politics are, could you let me or the organizers know how you obtained such information.

      3. Eugenicist? That’s pure ignorance. It’s Gates & Co who are the Eugenicists. I’m surprised you didn’t compare us to Trump just for good measure. The fact that you haven’t sussed that this cuts right across political allegiances and makes for some very peculiar bedfellows shows you haven’t been paying attention, Bevin.

      4. Bevin, yes I tend towards the view that the media and Government are overstating the dangers of this coronavirus epidemic, not least because fewer people have died from and with covid (AND flu ) so far this year (2019/2020) than died of flu alone n 2016/17. I’m not a coronavirus denier, but am perplexed that political reactions are so similar all over the world. There must either be information that is known but not disclosed even to medics, or something else is going on. I do not know which it is. But Me having this opinion does not entitle anyone to accuse me of supporting herd immunity as a political strategy. Also, if allowed, I will refuse the use of any vaccine and this does not make me a herd immunity supporter either.

  4. https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.29.2001352#html_fulltext

    A large COVID-19 outbreak in a high school 10 days after schools’ reopening, Israel, May 2020

    Subsequently, all school classes reopened on 17 May 2020, with requirement for daily health reports, hygiene, facemasks, social distancing and minimal interaction between classes. Ten days later, the first major COVID-19 school outbreak in Israel emerged in a high school. Testing of the complete school community revealed 153 students (attack rate: 13.2%) and 25 staff members (attack rate: 16.6%) who were COVID-19 positive.
    Overall, some 260 persons were infected (students, staff members, relatives and friends)………..

    I guess that as we are no longer in the EU then we can ignore evidence.

    1. Eh? What’s the EU got to do with anything? And when was Israel in the EU?

      I’m not that arsed how other countries are getting on, moreso how my own country is compared to them.

      1. Israel was in the eurovision song contest, remember? Like a little European enclave in Araby. Bit like the Crusades really, and about as popular with the locals.

    2. Population of Israel 8,655,535.0

      Corona virus deaths 858.0

      Population to deaths ratio. 0.009913%

      Two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million are refugees, some of them from the lands just on the other side of the Gaza boundary fence. Israel denies them their right to return, enshrined in international law, while encouraging Jews worldwide to emigrate to Israel.

      The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee noted in its statement on Sunday that the “new wave of Israeli bombings of Gaza coincides with the sixth anniversary of Israel’s 2014 massacre.
      More than 2,250 Palestinians, including 550 children, were killed during that 51-day offensive.

      Population of Gaza 2,100,000.0

      Deaths from bombing 2,250.0

      Population to deaths ratio 0.1071%

      https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israels-crimes-must-be-met-arms-embargo

      Just to give it some perspective

      1. And just what relevance is that supposed to have to the question I asked about what it has to do with the EU and when was Israel ever an EU member??

        Oh, and shooting fish in a barrel is always gonna give a bigger death rate than a virus that has to travel and isn’t exactly free to infect unfettered because people are taking precautions.

        Daft example.

  5. There was also a CV outbreak in Dundee recently I read somewhere.

    Sally Collier, (now ex-) head of Ofqual just resigned.
    Carrie Graceless of the BBC, discussing it with some rent-a-head, asked when it was suggested that the final responsibility was the Minister’s –

    “But shouldn’t she have TOLD the Minister that the plan wouldn’t work?”

    Rather a big assumption that Ms. Collier DIDN’T do that, or at least raise objections.
    Way to defend the Tories, Graceless.

  6. ANOTHER Win/Win for the reprobate tory Government? Even if they do not “recommend” mask-use in corridors etc., the anxiety and fear felt by many people will cause them to wear it. Mask Obsessiveness will be the order of the day (and all for a virus that doesn’t seem to harm most people it infects).

    When people are fearful they tend to vote for and trust right-wing governments (hence the post-2007/08 complexion of world politics). So the tories are not overly-worrying about being perceived as managing the pandemic badly and making people fearful. Another Win/Win?

    1. “When people are fearful they tend to vote for and trust right-wing governments”.
      Keith Starmer sincerely hopes so.

  7. Unite for Freedom” Protest on August 29th

    There is a planned anti-lockdown, anti-mask, anti-contact-tracing – essentially anti all the “emergency” measures the government has taken – on 29th of August, in Traflagar Square.

    Many doctors and other experts will be speaking, some via video link some in person, including Dr Scott Jensen and Dr Dolores Cahill

    Next month the Coronavirus Bill is up for its first “6 month review”, Parliament can vote to end the bill, let it run for it’s full two years or even extend it. If you want to make your voice heard, join the march this weekend.

    https://off-guardian.org/wp-content/medialibrary/demo-290820.jpg?x42532

      1. I’d agree if we hadn’t been subjected to an onslaught of propaganda for the last 5 months. The greatest element of that propaganda was the omission of any counter evidence to the official narrative. Now they’ve created so many terrified individuals they have to coax them back into society with ‘amulets’ like masks.
        You can keep your kids out of school forever as far as I’m concerned. However, I draw the line at you canvassing for others to follow your example.

  8. No teachers have caught coronavirus from pupils anywhere in the world, claims SAGE adviser who suggests it was a mistake to shut schools
    Professor Mark Woolhouse said there is no proof of pupil to teacher spread
    He said children are ‘minimally involved’ in the spread of coronavirus globally
    Official statistics show 15 under-20s have died of Covid-19 in England and Wales

    There is no proof Covid-19 has been transmitted from a pupil to a teacher in school anywhere in the world, a scientist advising the Government has claimed.

    Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist from the University of Edinburgh, said closing all schools completely during Britain’s lockdown might have been a mistake.

    Evidence now suggests children are ‘minimally involved’ in the spread of Covid-19, which politicians should bear in mind in the future, he added.

    Statistics show 15 children and teenagers have died of coronavirus in England and Wales since March, 0.03 per cent of the total deaths.

    And scientists say children appear to only rarely be seriously affected by the condition, which preys on existing ill health and is most dangerous for the elderly. Getting fewer symptoms and milder illness may make them less likely to spread it.

    Professor Woolhouse, who sits on a sub-group of SAGE, told The Times it is ‘extremely difficult’ to find any instances of children spreading the virus to adults in schools, with no certain cases.

    Evidence has grown during the course of the pandemic that children are very rarely affected by Covid-19 and it is even more rare that they die from the illness.

    Professor sor Woolhouse told The Times that children of school age up to 15 are ‘minimally involved in the epidemiology of this virus’.

    He said: ‘There is increasing evidence that they rarely transmit.

    PUBLISHED: 13:44, 22 July 2020 | UPDATED: 16:20, 22 July 2020

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8548461/No-proof-teacher-caught-Covid-19-pupil-scientist-says.html

    1. brianbotou – Thanks for the links, however several much more recent findings (eg A very large scale study in South Korea) indicate that the initial findings that you quote from over a month ago may be flawed and that teenagers, unlike younger children, are just as infectious as adults.

      1. Can I see the official scientifically peer reviewed study which states that there is concrete proof of a pupil to teacher/ adult Covid 19 transmission because to date I haven’t seen one. Moreover, if Professor Mark Woodhouse an official government SAGE adviser is wrong why no official statement has been which contradicts his original statement made just over 4 weeks ago.

  9. I think ‘who infected whom’ is probably difficult if not impossible to prove or disprove conclusively in any setting, even a school, when the asymptomatic can spread it.
    The person who gets sick second will naturally be convinced the one who gets sick first is the spreader.
    IIRC in Dundee there were a dozen or more special needs children and two or three teachers who got sick in what looked like a very small school indeed.
    People are claiming many things but most specialists admit when they’re pressed that there are still many unknowns and uncertainties.

    I see the Tories are now leaving it up to teachers to decide whether masks have to be worn.
    Way to weasel out of responsibility, BloJob – can’t have angry parents blaming Tories now, can we?
    Somebody might get hurt if Little Johnny snuffs it.

    1. So you have official evidence, data, documentation, proof to back the assertion that Professor Mark Woodhouse, an epidemiologist and a SAGE adviser is wrong when he states “ there is no proof of a pupil to teacher spread.”

      1. brianbotou – Have you ever considered that over a month ago the same information wasn’t available. Several recent studies including a very large study in S.Korea have indicated that unlike their younger cohorts teenagers are just as likely as adults to spread this virus. In this context the very low death rates amongst teens is irrelevant it is their potential for spreading it to those who are more vulnerable that is of concern. These concerns are particularly acute in multi generational domestic settings.

        Throughout history scientific opinion has changes in response to new knowledge. Clinging onto the conclusions that were based on now out of date info isn’t just because at that particular moment in time the current evidence happened to support your point of view is infantile and is only going to cause harm.

      2. correction – that were based on now out of date info isn’t just because at that particular moment in time

      3. brianbotou – I gave you a link to the recently updated CDC advice just a few days ago and if you want to read up on the S.Korean study a simple Google search will reveal numerous articles and the original research. (limiting your search to the last week will make your search more focused).

  10. Steve H, if you have a scientifically peer reviewed study which proves categorically that there is a pupil to teacher/adult transmission of COVID-19 could you produce it or the link . So I can look at it and more importantly the offical government SAGE professor of epidemiology, plus all the other professors dealing in epidemiology . It can then be published so the public can be made aware of it.

  11. Steve H, the CDC link you gave was not repeat not a scientifically peer reviewed paper. It was an opinion not a peer reviewed paper. To repeat, if you have a scientifically peer reviewed paper which states categorically that there is a pupil to teacher/ adult transmission of Covid-19 kindly produce it or the link so it can be studied by the offical government SAGE professor of epidemiology Mark Woodhouse. I am certain that he and many of the worlds epidemiologists would be intrigued to look at it.

    1. brianbotou – “I am certain that he and many of the worlds epidemiologists would be intrigued to look at it.

      Which is exactly what they are now doing, as attested to by the numerous press reports.

  12. brainbotou – To be honest I don’t rally care one way or t’other what you think apart from the risk that there may be those who are stupid enough to put themselves and their loved ones at risk because they believe your nonsense peddling out of date and now superseded studies.
    I am not saying that your prof was lying or wrong when he said that there was no evidence when he published the articles you refer to, what I am saying is that subsequent more recent studies have now revealed new evidence that the previous level of knowledge was inadequate. If you are too dumb to take that on board then that is your problem not mine.

  13. Steve H, just to be crystal clear you have no scientifically peer reviewed paper which can categorically contradict what the offical SAGE professor and epidemiologist Mark Woodhouse has stated that their is no evidence of a transmission of Covid-19 between pupils and Teachers/ adults.

    1. “… is no evidence of” is VERY different to “is impossible” – which is what you’re asserting.
      The precautionary principle demands that the safest (even if least convenient) option may only be discarded when the evidence is conclusive.
      You’re advocating that the least safe option be taken on the basis of what is without doubt an incomplete body of evidence.
      The evidence MAY eventually prove you correct but as yet IT DOESN’T.
      The LACK of evidence proves nothing – it allows only provisional assumptions – propositions – postulations – to be made AND TESTED.
      It does NOT allow conclusions – IN A PANDEMIC FFS – to be drawn.

      Scientific reasoning DEMANDS these constraints.

      1. Firstly, the ” pandemic ” is based by the WHO on Professor Ferguson’s and Imperial predicted having a fatalities rate of 3.4%. reviewed after peer pressure to 1.0 % Current fatalities rates in the UK are about 0.0632%. Therefore, the premise was widely inaccurate. Worldwide fatalities are about 798,000 and the current world population is about 7,800,000,000 . Population to fatalities rate 0.01%.. Worldwide deaths caused by cars 1,400, 000. Just to give the notion of a ” pandemic ” more perspective.

        The medical profession work on the basis of evidence. For example, there is undeniable evidence for a link between smoking and lung cancer. How did they know this by having scientifically peer reviewed papers produced.

        To date no scientifically peer reviewed paper have been published any where in the world demonstrating that pupils transmit Covid-19 to teachers. In addition, no scientifically peer reviewed paper has been published demonstrating that teenagers transmit Covid-19 to adults in a domestic setting.

        If you have such papers, could you show them or provide the link. I am certain epidemiologists will be eager to see them.

      2. brianbotou – It would be helpful if you could base your posts on facts instead of fantasy, I suggest you look up the criteria that the WHO use to define pandemic. Are you claiming that the worldwide Covid-19 epidemics don’t meet the WHO’s criteria for a pandemic?

      3. OK. It’s official. You’re a fucking imbecile.
        I’ve been trying to be considerate in a spirit of solidarity but you’re beyond the pale.

        The reason there is no peer-reviewed paper, numbnuts, is that ‘peer review’ involves others in the field proving the claimant’s experiment to be valid by independently repeating it – it’s not a case of just reading the paper and agreeing or disagreeing.
        Fuck’s sake, you’re an obdurate little man – there is no possibility (absent a controlled experiment) of proving who infected whom in a classroom environment.
        A chain of infection can only be surmised, geddit?
        If you don’t understand THAT you have the scientific reasoning of a fucking chimp.

    2. brianbotou – Let me offer some clarity to what you’ve said. Over a month ago one of the SAGE Profs stated that there was currently no evidence that pupils passed on the infection to teachers but since then subsequent studies have revealed that teenagers pass on the infection in domestic settings. Your insistence on trying to confine the discussion to infections transmission between teachers and pupils is spurious nonsense, what counts here is who these teens go onto infect in their domestic settings and the wider community.

      Given your predilection for quoting the out of date it may have escaped your notice that the worldwide scientific community has set up alternative systems for the sharing and verification of new findings. They have done this in part because of the lessons learned from the original SARS pandemic when progress was hindered by the inherent delays in the normal publication process in peer reviewed scientific journals. (some of the papers on the original SARS weren’t published until way after the crisis had ended). Because of the widespread decimation of these papers the picking up of erroneous studies has been remarkably quick as has the identification of the more fruitful lines of research and treatments.

      ps: Putting aside for the moment that the statement you quote is out of date and based on old data how certain are you that this statement was only based on peer reviewed papers and if so how old was the data used ? Or was it perhaps based on the most up to date findings available at the time?

      1. “subsequent studies have revealed that teenagers pass on the infection in domestic settings. ”
        Where are the links? How have they proved it was their children who passed on the virus?

        “the worldwide scientific community has set up alternative systems for the sharing and verification of new findings.”
        What does this mean? Are they forgoing peer reviewing? What “alternative systems”? Do you realise that bodies like the WHO aren’t independent, they rely on funding from NGOs with political affiliations.

        “Because of the widespread decimation of these papers the picking up of erroneous studies has been remarkably quick as has the identification of the more fruitful lines of research and treatments.”
        Can you put that in English?

        Instead of writing verbose gobbledygook, try thinking for yourself.

      2. Steve H, you still not have provided, produced a scientifically peer reviewed paper which states without ambiguity that Covid-19 is transmitted between pupils and teachers/adults despite asking you many times to either display it or provide a link for it.

        If you can find a scientifically peer reviewed paper that proves there is such a transmission, could you let the Professor Mark Woodhouse, the government SAGE offical and epidemiologist know.

        I am certain he and his fellow epidemiologists will be eager to read it.

      3. I think the point needs to be made that everybody’s on a steep learning curve with this virus but I have noticed some expert bodies seem only to want to prove evidence that backs their opinions. For instance Edinburgh University puts a united pro-virus, pro-people management front on all areas of study, the same is true of some London Universities while others, who don’t receive funding from pharmaceuticals have expert testimony from across the board.
        I think you have, as ever, followed your natural right wing, liberal authoritarian, establishment beliefs rather than read all available evidence and draw your own conclusions.

      4. Scientists don’t make presumptions. Their job is to look at the evidence and try and disprove it. You can’t shortcut peer reviews.

      5. lundiel, please provide a link to a peer-reviewed paper supporting your 08:26 assertions about the relative dishonesty of UK univerities.

        “You can’t shortcut peer reviews.”
        Please provide some information on the length of time peer review commonly takes. A rough average will do.

        Bearing in mind that the scientific community has only been aware of CV19 for eight months I’d suggest to you that if every contention were to be peer reviewed before being acted upon the world would by now have done exactly NOTHING to fight this pandemic.

        Further, I’d contend that if peer reviews <emwere available you deniers would then demand reviews of the reviews – because your agendas are very far removed from a pure and honest desire for scientific rigour.

      6. David -You are right the peer review process takes a very long time

        After the initial sifting process then we have

        Typically the manuscript will be reviewed within 80 days. Should the reviewers’ reports contradict one another or a report is unduly delayed, a further expert opinion will be sought. If necessary, revised manuscripts may be returned to the initial reviewers, usually within 1 month. Reviewers and Senior Editors may request more than one revision of a manuscript, and alternative reviewers may also be invited to review the manuscript at any time.

        The final decision and time to publication
        The Senior Editor is responsible for the decision to reject or recommend the manuscript for publication. This decision will be sent to the author along with any recommendations made by the referees.

        Please note we may forward accepted papers for legal review if appropriate.

        After acceptance, it currently takes 1 week to get a citable, uncorrected draft of the article online, another 4-5 weeks to get the final corrected article online, and a few weeks later this is compiled into an online volume and issue. The print copy follows 2-3 weeks later.
        https://www.journals.elsevier.com/social-science-and-medicine/policies/peer-review-policy-and-publication-times

  14. Steve H, 2.33am. Can you provide a scientifically peer reviewed paper which proves that teenagers transmit Covid-19 to adults in domestic settings!!!!

    1. When asking Steve H innumerable times to produce a scientifically peer reviewed paper which proves that there is a transmissreminds me of the moment when Jeremy Pa

      1. When asking Steve H innumerable times to produce a scientifically peer reviewed paper which proves there is a transmission between pupils to Teachers or teenagers to adults in a domestic setting of Covid -19, is similar to the Jeremy Paxman position of asking the future Tory leader Michael Howard the same question 12 times and still not having received an answer.

        What did Anne Widdecombe famously call Howard “ something of the night”.

        In Steve H’s instance a K must be added!!!

  15. Of course there’s no support for the idea that school children are significant vectors.

    Like most of the Covid stuff posted here – it’s scientific bollocks. And you would have to lick the faces of more than two and a half thousand random individuals to even come in contact with a bit of stray RNA that *might* signify a Corona virus. Christ knows how many you would have to lick to actually catch an illness. And that’s using official figures from the ONS.

    Why this site is so keen to support Johnson and his spivs with their scam narrative beats me. Between this sort of nonsense and the Starmer coup, the ‘left’ has rendered itself irrelevant

  16. David Mc Niven, More fantasy from the world of Walter Mitty. “ there is no peer reviewed paper..” because they cannot find any definitive link between pupils and the transmission of the “ pandemic “ to adults. If they had concrete evidence, proof, documentation, data, it would be splashed all over the “ news” papers, it would be pumped out nightly on the State Broadcasting service and every other MSM outlet known to man. Stick with playing with your toy soldiers and boats and leave the grown ups to face down the bollocks about the “ pandemic.

  17. Steve H, 2.56 pm 26.08. the “ pandemic “ began about January or earlier in China, and about the middle of March in the U.K. In other words it’s been underway between 240- about 150 days. Despite the combined resources of the World, not a single peer reviewed paper has been published, stating unequivocally that there is sufficient evidence to state that children transmit “ pandemic “ to adults. Not a single solitary one.

    1. What does that prove you numpty. It would be helpful to know whether you’re claiming that the worldwide Covid -19 epidemic isn’t a pandemic.

  18. Steve H, 6.09 pm. Here is what the WHO based there call for a “ pandemic “ on relating to Covid -19

    [Imperial College epidemiologist Neil] Ferguson was behind the disputed research that sparked the mass culling of eleven million sheep and cattle during the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. He also predicted that up to 150,000 people could die. There were fewer than 200 deaths. . . .

    In 2002, Ferguson predicted that up to 50,000 people would likely die from exposure to BSE (mad cow disease) in beef. In the U.K., there were only 177 deaths from BSE.

    In 2005, Ferguson predicted that up to 150 million people could be killed from bird flu. In the end, only 282 people died worldwide from the disease between 2003 and 2009.

    In 2009, a government estimate, based on Ferguson’s advice, said a “reasonable worst-case scenario” was that the swine flu would lead to 65,000 British deaths. In the end, swine flu killed 457 people in the U.K.

    Last March, Ferguson admitted that his Imperial College model of the COVID-19 disease was based on undocumented, 13-year-old computer code that was intended to be used for a feared influenza pandemic, rather than a coronavirus. Ferguson declined to release his original code so other scientists could check his results. He only released a heavily revised set of code last week, after a six-week delay.

    So the real scandal is: Why did anyone ever listen to this guy?

    https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/05/08/so-the-real-scandal-is-why-did-anyone-ever-listen-to-this-guy/

    It proves that not a single solitary scientist, virologist, medical institution, despite the efforts of the US, UK, The Russian Federation, Japan, China in fact anywhere on the face of the Earth have published a scientifically peer reviewed paper stating unequivocally that there is sufficient evidence, data, studies that links the transmission of Covid 19 from Children to adults. Not one despite the “pandemic “ now entering 9 months in some duration in some places in the world you eejit.

    1. The WHO hasn’t based its assessments on what Ferguson in the UK said. It was monitoring the situation in China before anyone said any of it here. Stop this BS.

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