Protests will lead to increase in new cases of Covid-19, warns doctor

AN INTENSIVE care consultant fears widespread gatherings of protesters could lead to a spike in coronavirus cases.

Doctor David Hepburn, pictured right, an intensive care consultant at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, said he is “fully behind” the Black Lives Matter protests which took place across England and Wales over the weekend.

But he said he believes it is “inevitable” that the gatherings will lead to an increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

Dr Hepburn said he wanted to encourage anyone choosing to demonstrate to uphold physical distancing measures, wear masks and gloves, and consider selfisolating after the demonstration is finished.

Thousands of people attended protests across the UK as part of the Black Lives Matter campaign.

About 2,000 people staged a protest near Cardiff city centre and hundreds more attended a similar protest in Swansea.

A further demonstration is planned in Newport on Thursday.

“I think the protests are really important,” he said. “Obviously harnessing momentum now with the movement in the States. It’s not a problem that is exclusively confined to America and I understand why people want to have their voices heard. In terms of the movement, I am fully behind it.

“But speaking as an intensive care doctor, having dealt with the first surge already, I’m very worried that from a public health point of view this is not a sensible thing to do.

“I’m not a public health doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but anything that leads to an increase in cases in the hospital is going to lead to us potentially being overwhelmed again.”

The Aneurin Bevan University Health Board faced the challenge of dealing with a large proportion of confirmed cases of Covid-19 during the early stages of the pandemic in Wales.

But, as elsewhere, Dr Hepburn said the new infection rate within Board area has dropped in recent weeks.

“There was some really good news over the weekend that the new infection rate has really dropped away in Gwent, which is

fantastic,” Dr Hepburn said. “It sounds like all of the things we have been doing have been working.”

But he warned: “The virus hasn’t gone away. It is still here.”

Dr Hepburn said demonstrators should consider other methods of supporting the movement, by giving to charities and grassroots groups.

“If people are going to march, and I totally understand the need to do so, that they try very hard to practise as much social distancing as possible, to wear a mask, and gloves if at all possible,” he said.

“I think it’s inevitable that we will see an uptick in cases as a result of the demonstrations.

“It does seem that mass gatherings are the number-one way to increase the spread of the disease.

“It’s laudable, the sentiment behind it, and I would never try to curtail anyone’s right to protest, but we have to try and do it as safely as we possibly can because otherwise the actual knock-on effects could be worse.

“That’s something that all my colleagues and I are particularly mindful of at the minute.”