Health boss warns of more deaths as pandemic enters ‘critical’ phase

Because of [the new variant of the virus’] greater infectivity, it will infect more people, therefore more people will become seriously ill, and more people will die. It’s as brutal as that.

BRISTOL’S public health boss has warned of the threat posed by coronavirus fatigue and Covid deniers as we enter a “critical” and dangerous new phase of the pandemic.

Bristol City Council’s director of public health Christina Gray left no room for doubt at a press briefing yesterday as to the severity of the current situation.

Describing the quickly escalating number of coronavirus cases in the city, especially among 35 to 59-year-olds, she said everyone needed to play their part to halt the spread of the virus, prevent more deaths and stop the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.

But she warned that Covid fatigue could undermine people’s willingness to follow the rules, creating a perfect breeding ground for the virus as winter and a much more contagious variant accelerate its spread.

“This is probably the most critical point [of the pandemic so far],” she said.

“The new variant [of the virus], we don’t have any evidence that it’s more lethal in and of itself, but because of its greater infectivity, it will infect more people, therefore more people will become seriously

City council director of public health Christina Gray

ill, and more people will die. “It’s as brutal as that.

“The next few weeks and months are absolutely critical and it’s going to depend on whether enough of us can keep the social contract together to keep this at bay and get the vaccine out.

“If the NHS system crumbles, we won’t have those [healthcare] staff to get the vaccine out.”

The new variant of the virus is estimated to be 70 per cent more transmissable than the strain that has dominated the pandemic so far

But it can still be stopped in its tracks if people follow the basic rules of “hands, face, space”.

However, Ms Gray worried people were becoming tired of following the rules.

“This is grim. This is really grim,” she said, describing the public mood in response to a third lockdown nearly a year into the pandemic.

Worse still, some people were actively encouraging others to break the rules and spreading false information about vaccines, she said.

“In spite of where we are, in spite .of the deaths that we are now starting to see – so we’ve had about 100 deaths recorded in this second wave for Bristol alone – in spite of that, in spite of what our healthcare professionals are saying [and what] people who are experiencing loss and long Covid are saying, we still have people demonstrating on the streets of Bristol, or thinking it’s a hoax, or just fed up.

“So that’s dangerous.

“I think the way through this is to assume this [Covid-19] is around, assume there’s a very high level of infectivity, and to assume that you and everyone you know and love is potentially infectious, and that will enable us to adapt our behaviours to get through the next few weeks and months.”