THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR

SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times that has won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.

EMERGING from this pandemic was always going to be fraught with difficulty. Quite frankly, it seems like some people don’t even want it to end.

Recent coverage has been remarkable. Despite the seven-day average of cases plummeting across the country, we’ve been told that they’re increasing.

It’s just flat-out wrong. The number in hospital with Covid is also falling, albeit at an expected delayed rate.

We have to strike a balance this winter between refraining from unnecessarily scaring people out of their wits, but also encouraging some caution.

I don’t believe that lockdowns or restrictions are necessary with the antibody protection in the population from vaccines and natural infection. The ONS estimates well over 90 per cent of adults have some form of protection.

Symptoms

But the messaging has to change and I think the Government’s willingness to “talk up” jabs is partly responsible.

They prevent severe illness and death but are not nearly as helpful at preventing transmission as we hoped. The message can’t be “If you’re vaccinated, you can’t catch Covid,” which I think it has been.

I have no doubt that fully vaccinated people have been out spreading the virus as they assumed their cough or flu-like symptoms were nothing to worry about.

If you’re under the weather, get a test and stay at home. Being vaccinated does not make you invincible.

Focusing on locking everyone up when we needed to target those who were most infectious has been a big weakness during the pandemic. I worry we are making the same mistake again.

If you have a cough, loss of taste and feel awful, stay home, vaccinated or not.