{"id":221308,"date":"2020-11-28T08:04:27","date_gmt":"2020-11-28T08:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=221308"},"modified":"2020-11-30T07:21:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T07:21:16","slug":"avoid-board-games-and-sing-quietly-over-christmas-to-reduce-risk-of-cases-doubling-in-new-year-sage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=221308","title":{"rendered":"Avoid board games and sing quietly over Christmas to reduce risk of cases \u2018doubling\u2019 in New Year – Sage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harriet Brewis \u2013 Evening Standard Nov 27, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Don\u2019t belt out your favourite Christmas<\/a> carols and opt for quizzes over board games if you want to help prevent a third wave of coronavirus<\/a> infections, England\u2019s top scientists have warned.<\/p>\n

Covid-19<\/a> infection rates could \u201ceasily double\u201d over the festive period if people go to town during the planned five-day relaxation of the rules, according to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies<\/a> (Sage<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In a set of documents released on Friday, Sage said \u201csubstantial mixing\u201d of people over a short period of time represents a \u201csignificant risk for wide-spread transmission\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a paper<\/a> dated November 26, the group set out a number of alternatives to traditional yuletide activities, to help mitigate the potential spread of the disease.<\/p>\n

To reduce the risk of contaminating surfaces, the Government advisers suggest substituting card or board games for quizzes.<\/p>\n

They also advise people to \u201cavoid singing or physical activities such as dancing in indoor spaces\u201d \u2013 which have been associated with outbreaks of the disease.<\/p>\n

However, anyone desperate for some musical cheer is urged to limit the \u201cloudness of singing\u201d and the \u201cduration of activities\u201d, as well as ensure that \u201cventilation is very good\u201d.<\/p>\n

These suggestions are among the group\u2019s \u201cten principles for reducing household transmission during social interactions\u201d, which are as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Consider whether in-person interactions are essential and cannot be postponed or replaced by safer forms of interaction.<\/li>\n
  2. Consider replacing indoor events with outdoor activities or using community spaces to host events.<\/li>\n
  3. Recognise that most transmission occurs due to prolongued, close interaction with familiar people in a home environment.<\/li>\n
  4. Take special care to protect people who are particularly vulnerable to serious consequences from infection.<\/li>\n
  5. Ensure people who are emotionally vulnerable have social support.<\/li>\n
  6. People who have to self-isolate or quarantine should not have any in-person social interactions.<\/li>\n
  7. Limit interactions to the same small group of people as far as possible.<\/li>\n
  8. Limit the duration of time spent together, especially if meeting indoors.<\/li>\n
  9. Manage the home environment and how people interact together.<\/li>\n
  10. Negotiate and communicate with family, friends, and other visit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This week Boris Johnson<\/a> told families they must make a \u201cpersonal judgment\u201d<\/a> about the risks posed to vulnerable loved ones during Christmas get-togethers.<\/p>\n

    The Prime Minister urged the public to \u201cthink carefully\u201d over the festive period after it was confirmed that three households will be able to mix as part of a \u201cbubble\u201d from December 23 to 27<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    In a meeting on October 29 \u2013 a week before England went into a second lockdown<\/a> \u2013 Sage warned that to reduce the \u201cinevitable risk from social mixing during the festive period\u201d, a substantial reduction in prevalence is required ahead of any changes to behaviours or interventions.<\/p>\n

    In a summary of the meeting, it added that measures to achieve this would need to be put in place \u201cas soon as possible\u201d<\/p>\n

    In a meeting on November 18 \u2013 a few days before the Government announced that there would be a limited relaxation of restrictions at Christmas,<\/a> the scientists warned: \u201cThe prevalence could easily double during a few days of festive season.”<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Seriously. Government scientific advisors warn that playing board games and singing Christmas carols \u201ccould easily\u201d increase the spread of Covid-19 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221308"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221316,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221308\/revisions\/221316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}