Unless we pass laws which support people to enable them to self-isolate properly, any improvements to test & trace will have marginal impact and cases will simply spiral out of control once again as we ease lockdown in December.

A short thread on what we can do and why 👇
1/

Improving the currently poor rates of self-isolation is actually the key point, which many scientists, politicians, & commentators do still seem to be missing.

This requires good public health communication, proper support for those who need to self-isolate, & trust.
2/
Massive testing and tracing will only significantly reduce
transmission if positive cases isolate effectively. Yet
currently fewer than 20% of those who should isolate are fully adherent.

I don't think I need to explain why it's so critical to improve these rates.

3/
Survey data shows intention to adhere to test/trace/isolate behaviours is higher than self-reported adherence: whilst 76% of people intend to share contacts, only 50% of people correctly recognise symptoms &
just 12% get a test, 18% isolate, & 11% of contacts isolate properly.
4
Self-reported ability to self-isolate
is three times lower in those who earn less than £20,000 per year or have less than £100 saved.

5/
The UK has one of the lowest proportions of pay covered by statutory sick pay in Europe (29% compared to 100% in Germany), and millions do not qualify.

6/
An OECD review showed paid sick leave is important well beyond its
core function to protect sick workers during a health pandemic and subsequent economic crisis.

7/
SAGE and iSAGE agree that
individuals need to be supported properly for them to isolate, advising a daily text or phone call, with provision of food supplies, essential goods and employment
protection, stressing solidarity and togetherness.

8/
In Senegal (& China & elsewhere), they offer isolated accommodation to anyone who needs it. https://t.co/Reopwtvizn
We could do this too (hotels), & it would go a long way to preventing spread within multigenerational households, where transmission often occurs.
9/
It is *over three months* since the ONS found that a lack of proper sick pay was highly correlated with care home outbreaks and *over three months later* we have still done absolutely nothing about this in England. https://t.co/q4phFlXALW

In the most vulnerable of settings.

10/
https://t.co/7lkzrHx7DB
Wales has acted to change this in care homes, when will England? And when will we then follow SAGE, iSAGE and OECD advice and apply that across the board to improve self - isolation rates and therefore reduce rates of community transmission?

11/
Existing test-and-trace policies have deviated from advice provided by SAGE and, without improving basic public health communication and giving support to self-isolate, any
improvements to the test-and-trace system will have only marginal impact.

END
https://t.co/h60nM1TMsM

More from Society

1/ A thread of comments & observations about the death of the cackling vampire Rush Limbaugh.

My first observations in the main thread are here, but this offshoot is needed because there's been so many wise & witty things I've


2/ First, re: those who in their wayward moral obtuseness feel we "can't speak ill of the dead." I've said that this is what abuse enablers say, but I hear that some religious traditions preach this. Oy.
So there's this: https://t.co/7Ky4RA3nkZ &


3/ Drucker is another great wit, and this carries the proper mood


4/ There's definitely a Jewish Tradition angle for how to treat evil people who die: the only respect is to justice, right & wrong, and above all compassion's existence necessitates condemning cruelty


5/ We're coming up on #Purim, and that's all about how to remember evil. There may be a reason, then, that I share the attitude of many other people committed to righting

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This is a pretty valiant attempt to defend the "Feminist Glaciology" article, which says conventional wisdom is wrong, and this is a solid piece of scholarship. I'll beg to differ, because I think Jeffery, here, is confusing scholarship with "saying things that seem right".


The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.


Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)


There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.


At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?