Read on Twitter
Like many if not most science writers, much of what I wrote this year was on the single, inevitable topic of what we first called "the coronavirus", then Covid-19, now just Covid. Gathering some of those pieces together now illustrates the trajectory of the pandemic. A thread.
My initiation into the topic, which I'd previously been seeing as an infectious-disease story that wasn't really my patch, came when I went to visit Roy Anderson at Imperial - one of my last trips into the city - for this piece. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/12/britain-containing-covid-19-countries-hong-kong-singapore
I'm happy that I managed to get one of the early big pieces out on vaccine development - and it highlighted the Moderna mRNA candidate now approved for use. No one back then dared think it could happen so fast. https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/when-will-there-be-vaccine-coronavirus-progress
I still feel that this piece for @prospect_uk was one of the most important I wrote. Even early on it became clear to me that the misinformation that has dogged the pandemic response was a continuation of trends that have been growing for several years... https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/epidemiology-misinformation-coronavirus-covid19-conspiracy-theory
It's now clear that this situation only worsened, as anti-maskism and Covid denialism became a part of the culture wars & a trait of all the usual libertarian contrarians, who continue even now (& are given platforms) despite being repeatedly proved wrong. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/07/how-mask-wearing-became-new-culture-war
This was one of the few pieces that felt positive and a pleasure to write: remember that silence in the cities in the glorious early summer? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/20/why-lockdown-silence-was-golden-for-science
All the same, silence is far from golden for some, especially the many small music clubs and venues that have had to shut or are at severe risk of needing to do so. Lindsay McIntyre, who I quote in that piece, has been working hard to raise that alarm. They need a lot of help.
Then came the Cummings affair, which shattered any sense of common purpose and trust in governance. And to my huge regret, it also broke my faith in the UK's chief scientists, who failed to speak out on an incident with clear public-health implications. https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/chris-whitty-and-patrick-vallance-must-speak-out-against-dominic-cummings-durham-trip-sage-science-herd-immunity
That piece came before the press conference at which the two scientists refused to comment on what they saw as a "political matter". I'm afraid I was appalled by that, and wrote this afterwards. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2020/05/silence-chief-scientists-worrying-and-deeply-political
Some said "But what could they do, as civil servants?" The answer is simple: they could have done what Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy CMO, did in a press conference a few days later, stressing that the rules applied to *everyone*. But they did not.
As government policy has increasingly diverged from the scientific advice, Whitty and Vallance have started to sound more like independent and challenging voices, which is very heartening. I'm also told they have been stalwart figures of calm and reason in recent weeks...
I'm happy to believe that, and I think both have integrity. But the Cummings affair highlighted serious problems in how science and government in the UK were interacting. I looked at that relationship in this BBC Radio 4 documentary. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lmg6
Since then, the relationship has become ever more strained. In the delayed November lockdown and the consequences now unfolding, it seems the interaction is almost dysfunctional. This is deeply troubling.
Here, at any rate, is where the Cummings affair left us. In retrospect, it now seems a pivotal moment in the UK's pandemic response, showing how far the government was prepared to go to dissemble, cover up and allow untruths to flourish. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/08/dangerous-legacy-cummings-affair
More on misinformation: here's a piece for @NatureNews anticipating precisely the kind of problems for vaccine uptake that we're now seeing. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01423-4
And this piece with the amazing @amymaxmen (if you're not following her, you should) looked more closely at the battle against Covid misinfo and conspiracy theories. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01452-z
I must include this, not because of anything I say but because it is a review of an essential read for anyone who wants to know about the deep history of the pandemic. Debora's book would be good in any circumstances, but is astonishing on this timescale.
https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)31594-4.pdf
https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)31594-4.pdf
Even Debora's book wasn't the first, however. This one by Joshua Gans, among other things, stated very clearly at the outset that the choice of saving lives or saving the economy was a false one: swift, effective action, he said, would be good for both. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01487-2
Finally (for now!): this is where it seems to me we are left from this terrible, bewildering year. Covid-19 was not an anomaly but a lens that magnified deep, global sociopolitical problems. Tackling them is the task ahead. https://www.newstatesman.com/international/coronavirus/2020/10/ten-lessons-covid-19-pandemic
I can't end, though, without saying that everything I wrote & broadcast on this topic depended on the selflessness and hard work of countless scientists. As I say in the last piece, science doesn't solve all these problems. But my god it has served us amazingly this year.
