Bradford: covid wave 2

Watching the Doctors and Nurses on Channel 4's news in Bradford Royal Infirmary is heartbreaking.

They look shellshocked exhausted and helpless.

I was born in one of the rougher parts of Bradford. I have close ties to the City and much love for it.

In the first wave a third of the population of the city had covid19. We barely coped but we did. Many of us thought the second wave would be easier but in fact it is even worse.

People are getting it a lot more seriously at a younger age even without ANY underlying conditions.

People are a lot sicker in wave 2 and more people are requiring oxygen and many who are younger are having to go into ICU.

One of our local NHS Trusts today declared its critical ward was full and could not admit new patients.

We keep saying we don't think these recent mutations make the virus more virulent but what geneticists mean is they genuinely don't know. A few amino acid changes on a viral spike protein doesn't tell them anything. So they err on the side of caution saying there is no evidence.

Well let me make something clear. If the genetics don't tell you then start looking at people and patterns.

Because three things are blatently bloody obvious.

and here they are.

N501Y K417N are more infectious

B.1.1.7 is even MORE infectious, probably reinfects, and causes a much more severe illness and hits younger patients.

E484K et al - Manaus and South Africa is all of the above amplified and is utterly catestrophic.

And more are emerging daily.

There is more to Covid19 than London. Difficult when most of the UK's lead scientists live there and they talk about little else.

Please pattern match your variants to the effect on patients and hospitals on the ground.

@CMO_England