THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR
SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora now writes for the Daily Express. Our readers can now enjoy the soothing advice in these troubled times that have won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.
THERE are plenty of scientists who are convinced there is going to be an inevitable second wave of Covid-19, just as with Spanish Flu in 1918.
It is claimed that far more died in this than in the first. The virus simply mutated to be more lethal.
Indeed, the whole NHS planning system is currently using a very gloomy epidemiologist’s prediction from Imperial College suggesting the second wave will run into our usual “winter pressures” when operations are routinely cancelled and clinics postponed.
This just reflects a capacity deficit not seen elsewhere in Europe. But there are a growing number of us who are much more optimistic.
Of course, we must prepare for any eventuality. But I suspect the doom merchants do not understand the profound psychological impact of their apocalyptic predictions. The nation’s mental health has taken a battering, perhaps we should give the public a desperately needed breather.
Comparisons with the Spanish Flu are pointless – we are not living in 1918 and this is not influenza. I’m on the same page as Professor Hugh Pennington, Britain’s most senior infection specialist, to dispel these myths.
He has repeatedly stated that the evidence of a second wave is growing weaker by the day. We eased our lockdown three weeks ago and there is no sign of a resurgence.
Hospital admissions and infections continue to fall dramatically, so how does this tally up with the doomsday scenario? The data from four European countries who came out of hiding just after Easter is so far fantastic.
Professor Pennington made his thoughts clear to the Scottish Parliament but was rudely ignored. It’s much easier for a scientist who predicts disaster. If it happens you just say, ‘told you’; if it doesn’t you say, ‘saved you’.
But if you don’t predict disaster and it happens you get fired. Going against the conventional wisdom is never easy, but he made his point firmly and eloquently.
We’re not out of the woods yet and there may be local flare ups. But I’m now convinced we need to move as fast as we can to restore normality to both the NHS and society.