Dr Ben King 🌏

Morning ☀️ Another 10/10 And today is a Concert Day 🎶 Matinée performance 3pm in #Dartmouth, South #Devon 🎺 The Flavel share.google/2YHwC77yqi34Ro… Legs will get a rest-day, lungs will get a good workout and my working week will no doubt start 'Stable' 'Ready & 'In Balance' 😊

"We're six years after the pandemic started and there's still not the investment in the research to fund the treatments we need and that's one thing that has to absolutely change." On the 6th anniversary of the first covid lockdown I spoke to the BBC about life with #LongCovid.

📖 ONE 2 READ: Excellent article on the pioneering work of @cv_cev 👉 How they changed the culture, practice & output of the #covidinquiry They modelled masking & didn't wait for permission Outstanding advocacy 💙 clinicallyvulnerable.org/post/covid-inq…

"It's completely devastated my life" Here's a short clip from my interview with BBC Radio Leeds about my life with #LongCovid.

Here’s another clip from the Covid Inquiry… …this time from Richard Brunt, Director at the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), explaining how surgical masks may offer limited protection against droplet transmission, but do NOT protect against AIRBORNE transmission.

Worse still, some health officials are actively telling people NOT to wear masks because they can: “create the wrong message” “spread panic” “revive memories of Covid” What utterly absurd reasons to not recommend masking! This advice may cost lives. kidneycareuk.org/news-from-kidn…

I really think those in change of infection control for this Meningitis B outbreak need to take an urgent look at the Covid Inquiry report published just a few days ago. There are no excuses anymore. The govt MUST NOT make the same mistakes again. We MUST learn from the past.

And this: "CLEAN AIR IN THE NHS: NOW A RECOMMENDATION The report recommends that HEPA air filtration be prioritised across NHS healthcare settings in the short term, and that all new NHS facilities be built with effective ventilation. The Inquiry's own expert, Professor Beggs, described HEPA filters as 'cheap', easy to install, and doing 'a similar job to ventilation.' We had brought them to the hearing centre before any expert said this. We had measured the air quality. We showed Baroness Hallett the numbers." clinicallyvulnerable.org/post/covid-inq…

@OldYesButWise If there is one systemic change I would like to see in the UK and Ireland, it would be the widespread introduction of FFP2 respirators for healthcare staff and messaging to the public that FFP2 respirators are far superior to 'baggy blues'.

This group of UK Clinically Vulnerable Families has done a significant service to all of us who value health- regardless of country. How they engaged with the @covidinquiryuk is incredibly moving. Where the NHS goes from here then others may follow; including @HSELive

We need to empower every young person to contribute to a resilient, sustainable future. Join me in signing this important petition: teachthefuture.uk/petition?sourc… #TeachTheFuture

We showed up to the Covid Inquiry masked, carrying our own air filters. Last week, the healthcare report confirmed everything we said. Our founder @lara_wong on what we have won - and what comes next... clinicallyvulnerable.org/post/covid-inq…

Extremist Israeli settlers burn homes in occupied West Bank channel4.com/news/extremist…

“They're producing more terrorists than they're killing.” Israel’s campaigns against Hamas and Iran have produced “more radicals” than they have killed, US security expert Robert Pape says.

That’s because different mitigations work for different modes of transmission. 😷 Fluid resistant surgical masks may provide some protection against droplets, but do NOT protect against aerosol transmission. 😷 FFP2/3 masks (respirators) are needed to protect against aerosols.

This is also why the Covid Inquiry report has been crystal clear in its findings that “it is no longer appropriate” to rely on the dichotomy between droplets & aerosols. You can’t have droplets without aerosols. Failing to guard against aerosol transmission puts people at risk.

That said, in a crowded poorly ventilated setting, aerosols can still reach many people in the few minutes it remains viable. And remember, someone carrying meningococcus will be breathing continuously, producing a steady stream of bacteria-laden (albeit short-lived) aerosols.

However, because the bacteria doesn’t survive very long in the air (only a few minutes or so), the concentration of bacteria-laden aerosols doesn’t build up and accumulate in the same way as it does for a virus like Covid which remains infectious in the air for hours.

The heavier droplets behave ballistically and fall rapidly to the ground… …whereas the aerosols are lighter and float in the air, spreading outwards in a ‘plume’. And, of course, the closer you are to the infected person, the denser that plume of aerosols will be.

As independent expert witness to the Covid Inquiry, Professor Clive Beggs, unequivocally confirmed during his testimony: There is no situation or scenario where someone could produce a respiratory droplet without ALSO generating significant amounts of aerosols.

Ongoing research at Bristol University has been studying this for the past few years. Their research has revealed that there is a “significant drop in survival after just 15 secs of aerosolisation, with some strains showing little survival after 5 mins”. meningitisnow.org/meningitis-exp…