This year has been incredibly challenging for the majority of businesses across the UK, and as the nation has desperately scrabbled to forge a blanket solution, the focus on minimising footfall has had drastic consequences on so many businesses across the nation.
Those that depended on human interaction and steady footfall such as Hospitality, Arts, Sport, Meetings, Conferences and Events have been amongst those hit hardest and many businesses in these sectors will have had to make some very sobering decisions over the past few months., and more so in the months to come.
As the nation faces perhaps its biggest conundrum to date, it seems that key decision makers in parliament are playing what would appear to be a delicate balancing act, through first of all a tiered approach to interactions, and now another full national lockdown. Whether our economy can sustain such a dance is another matter entirely.
Medical doctor, clinical epidemiologist and Public Health Consultant, Dr Paul Nelson – founder of the FeverFreeZone™ Movement and an expert in Covid-19 mitigation strategy, shares his insights around exactly why some of these Covid mitigation strategies may be failing.
- There is no upstream symptom screening. If you don’t seek a test, your data will not form part of Track and Trace’s auditTest and Trace is a very good way to potentially eradicate the virus, but for it to work, it needs to have a community-wide ‘net’ to catch the new cases, and not rely on the people who go to the doctor or ask for their own test. Currently, this is the only way that Test Track and Trace obtain leads to follow up. So what about all of the people who experience symptoms, but choose not to get tested? Those feeling a ‘little bit under the weather’, entering economically vulnerable spaces unaware of the fact they could be a ‘spreader’?
If business owners are given the means to become their own ‘gate keepers’, they can also become ‘gate keepers to our economy’. By objectively assessing their clients’ temperature at an entry level, they can help to prevent the virus from spreading, and aid their own economic recovery by preventing infection numbers from escalating.
2. Isolate support is inadequate, and many people who are supposed to be self-isolating are not
We have plenty of guidelines…’Stay at home for 14 days after your last contact with the person who has tested positive for COVID-19’, ‘Do not go to work, school, or public areas, and do not use public transport or taxis’, etc. etc. These are all very valid recommendations but what is lacking, in my opinion, is a support network which encourages individuals to stick to those same guidelines.
When I had the idea for FeverFreeZone™ I really wanted to create an objective tool to proactively seeking and removing potential Covid-19 cases from public places (and our homes too), but I also wanted to create a community, a support bubble of responsible businesses and individuals, to help with potentially driving the R number down, keeping us in the lowest possible tier and resuming our activities sooner rather than later, and continuing them for longer. We all work together, and we all benefit from it.
3. Delays in decisions and contradictory advice has failed to harness the full cooperation of the public
I think the single most important factor influencing our ability, or lack thereof, to suppress this virus has come from delays in decision making and contradictory advice that we have received from the forces that be. Political jargon, populism and contradictory advice won’t cut it. People are scared for themselves and their families, they are worried about making ends meet, and already hugely uncertain about what the future will bring.
The signs were all there, when the pandemic was already fully blown on the continent; having delayed the decision to put the nation on lockdown, no doubt cost lives, and has led to the necessity of another full-scale lockdown, with less than 12 hours’ notice given to businesses and the public to organise themselves to yet another period of immense uncertainty.
We now have the opportunity to avoid making the same mistake all over again, and we must not waste it. Relaxing measures too soon now – particularly, considering the added euphoria, since news of a possible vaccine entered our lives – might very likely bring about yet another wave. The damage might already have been done by the official advice regarding Christmas celebrations, advice which seems to be driven by fatigue, rose coloured spectacles and, perhaps, a slight amount of political calculation.
Given the situation, what I’d really like to see – and what I’m really trying to help with – is objective symptom checking with audited data and results, when we once again re-open our doors to external contact. Objective temperature assessment now feels more important than ever. That way the public would be able to feel responsible for improving the current state of affairs, possibly managing to achieve what the government, despite having committed the same mistake twice already, seems to have been unable (or unwilling) to do.
4.Mitigation which desperately tries to balance the economics and public health, such as ending the first lockdown before eradication, stores up problems for the future
The first lockdown was imposed too late, but it was also lifted too suddenly. Of course, the adverse effects of lockdown on the national and local economy were, and still are, huge; but, unfortunately, the virus was still very much present, and a second wave was always on the cards.
This left so many businesses worse off as they were forced to close their doors for a second, and now a third time, after having heavily invested in mitigation measures such as PPE kit, screens and signage.
5. Political “red lines” such as keeping schools and universities open “come what may” mean rates remain higher for longer
The way a pandemic like the current Covid-19 crisis spreads is known: a R number of 1 means that on average every person who is infected will infect 1 other person, meaning the total number of new infections is neither growing nor shrinking. If R is 2, on average, each infected person infects 2 more people. If R is 0.5 then on average for each 2 infected people, there will be only 1 new infection. If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is generally growing, and if R is less than 1 the epidemic is now shrinking. Exceptions to the rule of lockdown inevitably mean more direct contacts and by keeping schools and universities open “come what may”, rates will inevitably remain higher for longer.
Dr. Paul Nelson has created a FeverFreeZone™ Movement as he believes this is the additional layer of protection that is required to support the eradication of Covid-19, whilst supporting the recovery of our economy. So how does it work? FeverFreeZone™ is a simple integrated symptom screening membership service designed to enable businesses and customers to reduce the risk of exposure to people with Covid-19, and it is completely non-invasive and simple to operate.
Business owners of all kinds, once we yet again attempt to re-open our economy, will take the temperature of patrons on entry into their spaces using a clinically approved, contactless thermometer which will then communicate via Bluetooth to a free Fever Free app downloaded by each user. The process uses a progressive web app, which means it doesn’t need to be downloaded from the App store and requires only bare minimum personal data. Once cleared, the person is issued a six-hours pass attesting they are fever-free. During this time, the pass ‘holder’ will experience a frictionless outing as they show it to other participating businesses in the area, all while preserving the privacy of all participants.
If high temperature is detected, the business will encourage the person to go home and the app will prompt them to pass on details to the contact tracing services (if they agree), who will get in touch with the person to be sent a test.
Paul’s work has received support from Essential Edinburgh and together they are working to create a safer shopping environment across Scotland’s capital, but it’s also incredibly valuable in environments such as care homes and the events industry. For more information, visit the official website https://www.feverfree.zone
