Covid-19 “doesn’t care if it is Christmas”, a top public health expert in the UK has said.
Professor Devi Sridhar’s comments came as officials from the four UK nations try to concoct a coherent plan to allow families to reunite at Christmas.
Prof 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.”
Hope
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.”
We don’t want to pay for Christmas with January hospitalisations and February deaths
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.
“So get outside – we know outside is so much safer than inside, go for a walk, have a meal outside.
“If you’re going to be inside, ventilate, open your windows, make sure there’s plenty of air circulation.
“You know, if you’re going to see elderly or vulnerable individuals, you can isolate for two weeks, if you’re able to, so you’re not going to expose them."
“But we are in a pandemic and I think people need to recognise that it’s not going to be a normal Christmas – Christmas isn’t cancelled – but it’s going to feel substantially different," she added.
“We don’t want to pay for Christmas with January hospitalisations and February deaths.”
