Three years on since the pandemic knocked our doors and it looks like we are having to remind ourselves again about the basic principles to combat infectious diseases. Simpler measures to control transmission such as use of appropriate masks in healthcare settings and air filtration in busier places weren’t put in place constantly. Winter is just around the corner and a new variant has decided to appear in our lives smiling at the lack of boosters coverage. Our government seems not to grasp what Long COVID is and what it represents to those suffering from it.
New variant nicknamed Pirola
This month the government has announced the appearance of a new variant in the UK, BA.2.86 (nicknamed “Pirola”), that has also appeared in Israel, Denmark and the US. Although there have been only a very few cases reported worldwide, this variant has crossed continents very rapidly. This variant is not in the same family of Omicron. We do not know much about it.
BA.2.86 harbours some of the same spike mutations that helps the virus to get into the cell but it also has approximately 30 new mutations. In terms of evolution this is a big change. Does it mean there is a disaster to come…again? Impossible to say for now. This variant may turn into a weak one, less transmissible but depending on the new antigenic repertoire (foreign particles our immune system hasn’t had experience of), it can spread widely.
What we know for sure is that strains of this virus continue evolving and if transmission levels are high, more mutations (evolution) will arise. Are we really prepared for that? What are the levels of testing and sequencing for new strains? Undoubtedly they have decreased. Do these sentences I’ve just written ring a bell? Haven’t we used these sentences before in the beginning of the pandemic? What are the governments doing about it?
Preparedness
The nations of the UK are undergoing their pandemic enquiry and a report by Byline Times highlighted that expired masks were still being used by the frontline. FFP3 masks that are ‘mandatory’ for High Consequence Infectious Diseases weren’t put in place due to their shortage, and consequently COVID-19 was declassified as a disease of high consequence. Where is the moral value in all of this? How is this possible? Have we not learned some lessons? It looks like it!
Testing is not obligatory and not everyone can afford to keep buying the test kits. It is hard to believe, but only the population above 65 years old and those with immunological conditions will receive this winter booster for COVID-19 free, under the NHS. Haven’t we learned anything about an airborne virus? The percentage of the population receiving this booster is smaller than the one that receives the Flu one! How do these actions ‘comply’ with the control of transmission and therefore of new variants? Does science have any value to our governments. It appears not.
According to Public Health Scotland the provisional number of acute COVID-19 admissions to hospital went up from 121 at the end of July to 183 by the middle of August. Are governments seriously preparing our health system to be ready for the next crises, be a pandemic or a climate disaster? An OECD report pointed out that health systems were underprepared, understaffed and underinvested in before COVID-19. This is exactly the situation of OUR NHS! How many of us know well that prevention is better than cure and that maximising the health of people before any crisis avoids future death and long-term health problems!?
A resilient health system is dependent on a strong primary and preventive care system! How can we achieve this if we face a shortage of our health and social workforce that is already overstretched? Not forgetting to stress that we have a good percentage of the population suffering from Long COVID! We are lacking key policies to improve health system resilience: population health, health workforce retention, data collection & use, International Cooperation, supply chain resilience and trust in leadership & governance.
The burden long COVID sufferers have to endure
It is inconceivable to realise what long COVID sufferers go through if you have not experience it. We still have a lot to learn about the condition as we still haven’t got sufficient data to understand it better.
It’s been well presented in the literature that even for those with mild symptoms in the first infection, can have health issues for two years with numerous sequelae in multiple organ systems! How hard is it to understand that newly infected or re-infected individuals can suffer the same and that we still don’t know what lies beneath the symptoms. What will be the adverse outcomes that can still appear after several years as it happened to previous infectious diseases?
I am not saying we will stop our lives to avoid contracting long COVID, but we should do our best, and governments around the world should assist with its policies.
Moral duties
In the UK, the latest release of the prevalence data of self-reported long COVID was in March 2023. Shouldn’t we still be monitoring? Long COVID cases in the US and other countries are increasing. It is government’s moral duty to facilitate a long term follow up on these patients, so we can find ways to understand better the virus strategies that cause these harms and how we can treat them. It is government’s obligation to provide policies that allow an efficient strategy to slow down transmission.
It is not ethical for governments to narrow the percentage of the population that can have access to boosters. Making private deals to sell vaccines that have not been updated to the new variants , is not the way forward.
My final question for now: what is happening with the moral values of our governments?
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