We hear how well the vaccination programme is going and I believe that it has achieved 50% of of the eligible population and that is wonderful, and it has at least allowed a wider range of activities to take place. I have seen many caravans being readied a fair number on the roads.
But C19 is still out there, and there are still people who for one or more reasons have not had a vaccination or developed a immunity, many of those will be fit younger people for whom the risk from covid seems to be less severe, but they are still carrying and can spread the virus.
Even those who have built up an immunity can still have some capacity to spread the virus without necessarily becoming ill themselves.
Until we have reached a much higher level of vaccination in the population or we have found effective ways of identifying and shielding those who remain at high risk, it is still very important to keep social distancing and identifying those who are infected and quarantining.
In that context even with LFT's producing false positives, it is far better to err on the side of safety than to stop doing them. Not only will it help to control the spread of the virus it is building up a very valuable data base which even with the errors provides a lot of useful information to help us better understand patterns of spread, and what factors affect our response to it.
But testing is also still important becasue whilst in the UK we do have an advanced vaccination programme, some other countries do not. and becasue every new person infected introduces some new material to the viruses RNA the potential for significant new more virulent or resistant strains is ever present.
To control any infection you have to break the chain of transmission, which is why vaccination is often a useful tool, but its not as effective as preventing a host spreading the infection in the first place. In a lot of far eastern countries it has become culturally common place to see people on the streets wearing masks. This is actually more about stopping the spread of an infection rather than preventing the wearer catching one.
Covid-19 is now well embedded in the ecosphere of the world, and I think for the foreseeable future mankind will need to use vaccines to minimise infection rates. But just as with influenza the version of the vaccine will need to change to try and keep pace with new variations of the virus over time.
Second best to preventing infection, is the ability to manage it symptoms to render it less dangerous. In teh case of C19, its effects are far wider ranging than the likes of influenza, with multiple organ failures which is one reason it has been such major incident. All health services have have had to apply multiple therapies to help patients and we are still learning about what the virus does to us, and how best to relieve the symptoms.
We are also discovering more about the longer term side effects of the virus. These are also going to impact the cost of providing health care of the long term.
Considering the cost to life and quality of life and the fiscal cost of supporting sufferers, we do need to continue to take all reasonable precautions such as masks to limit the spread, and testing to monitor any spread and to catch it as soon as possible.
PJL