Virus ‘doesn’t care if it’s Christmas’, says public health expert
Covid-19 "doesn't care if it is Christmas", a leading public health expert has said.
Professor Devi Sridhar, who is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said it was "risky" for people to meet indoors - particularly when there are elderly relatives around and alcohol could be involved.
But she said recent vaccine breakthroughs could mean the country is in a "fundamentally different" position in March.
"People emotionally want to hear reassuring messages," she told a joint meeting of the Health and Social Care Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.
"They wanted to hear it over the summer that there would be no second wave, and they want to hear it now that Christmas will be normal.
"I guess I have to speak bluntly - the virus doesn't
care if it's Christmas.
"We still have pretty high prevalence across the country.
"It is risky for people to mix indoors with alcohol with elderly relatives at this point in time."
But Prof Sridhar added: "We have vaccines, three really exciting vaccines on the horizon. We have mass testing coming on board - I think Liverpool shows the promise, and Slovakia as well has been doing quite well with mass testing.
"We have new therapeutics meaning if you get Covid today, you're much more likely to survive than six months ago - project that six months into the future.
"So I think for people there is a glimmer of hope I think by March, we'll be in a fundamentally different position than now."
She said: "So perhaps this
Christmas will be different, it doesn't mean Christmas is cancelled. It's a pandemic Christmas - we're in the middle of a pandemic, every part of the world is suffering or under some kind of restrictions, one way or the other.
"And so I think that was kind of a message we need to tell people that just because it's Christmas doesn't mean the virus is any less risky."
Prof Sridhar said the British public have not had a "payoff "for their sacrifices during the crisis as seen in some other countries.
"It feels like for a lot of people this is going on, it's endless, they were willing to sacrifice in the spring to save the NHS. What are we doing now?" she said.
"The countries that suppressed/eliminated/took a zero-covid approach, their populations got a payoff
- New Zealand had a real
ly hard lockdown for three weeks but they got back to their big rugby games. Norway and Finland had early harsh lockdowns but then they released most of the restrictions.
"And I feel like with the British public, they haven't had that payoff. They haven't had that moment of release of 'your sacrifice has led to a state where actually, you get back your jobs and you get back your life'."
But when asked what she would advise in terms of Christmas, Prof Sridhar added: "What I would say to people, because I get asked all the time, is 'Do you want to infect the people that you love, or be responsible in your home or bring it into their home over Christmas?' We're in a pandemic, you can still see your family, you can still celebrate with your communities but in safer ways.”