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    Public health oversight of 'test and trace' is crucial to Britain's recovery from the pandemic Archived Message

    Posted by pete-g on March 25, 2021, 10:32 pm

    The latest report from Independent SAGE stresses that vaccination alone is not an escape route from Covid-19. Unless it's accompanied by test, trace and supported isolation overseen by local public health teams, there is a real danger that transmission chains of the virus will not be broken.

    It points out that few countries in Asia have had national lockdowns, but they have successfully focussed on rapid action to break transmission through local lockdowns, intense testing in hotspot areas and community worker-led contact tracing and follow-up.

    The report quotes the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer, who wrote in March 2020, "If we contrast a non-specific policy
    of social distance with a targeted policy guided by frequent testing that is equally effective at containing the virus, how much more disruptive is the non-specific policy? Answer? Way more disruptive." I'll drink to that.

    https://www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Supported-isolation-final-180321.pdf

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    • Public health oversight of 'test and trace' is crucial to Britain's recovery from the pandemic - pete-g March 25, 2021, 10:32 pm