Covid Looks Like Child Abuse as SAGE consultant warns virus could trigger lasting harm

One of the government’s more outspoken scientific advisers likened the capture of Covid to child abuse.

Professor Stephen Reicher, member of an influential SAGE subgroup, compared society’s past indifference to parents’ beating of their children with a perceived lack of concern about the long-term harm of the virus.

Andrews University psychologist tweeted: “Years ago we heard ‘my parents beat me and it didn’t hurt’.

“We don’t hear him anymore.

A lot of people today say, ‘I got Covid and it didn’t hurt me’. As the evidence builds up, they may not say that in the future.”

His comments came in response to a major Cambridge University study that showed that hospitalization with Covid can significantly age the brain.

According to research, critically ill patients may develop comparable thinking and memory-related problems at just age 20.

However, Professor Reicher faced a backlash on Twitter, where some accused him of misrepresenting the results, citing the patients hospitalized at the start of the pandemic, where the virus posed a much greater threat.

Thanks to the milder nature of Omicron, as well as increased immunity from vaccines and numerous fluctuations, Covid now causes mild illness for the majority.

But dozens of studies have warned of the long-term consequences of contamination, including damage to the brain, heart and lungs.

Professor Reicher is a member of the SAGE SPI-B Subcommittee, which provides advice on the behavioral sciences related to Covid. 10.

He previously warned against self-isolation, masks and mass testing, warning that this could cause “anxiety” and disproportionately affect the poor.

Professor Reicher is also a member of Independent SAGE, a lobby group that recently stopped calling for a Chinese Communist Party-style “Zero Covid” policy.

Indy SAGE called for a full nationwide blockade over Christmas in response to Omicron, but quietly softened its stance when this wave proved to be mild.

Dr Sunil Bhopal, a pediatrician at Newcastle University, commented on his tweet, noting that being hospitalized at the start of the Covid pandemic was “very bad for you”.

However, estimating “2022, post-vaccine” figures for The Independent said there was one reason SAGE was “unreliable.”

Dr. Mike Casey, a primary care physician in east London, accused the group of lobbying to ensure “my son’s school stays closed”.

Search and Rescue helicopter pilot Andy Doyle wrote on Twitter, “I know people who are really scared to leave the house. It’s deplorable.

“The distorting and misrepresentation of data by scientists and psychologists is inexcusable.”

According to official estimates, at least seven out of ten people in the UK have already had Covid.

But experts believe the real damage is even greater, with infections reaching the peak of the pandemic in April.

However, the days when deaths were more than a thousand were attributed to history. Commentators insist the virus now poses a similar threat to seasonal flu.

Cambridge scientists tested the cognitive abilities of 46 patients with an average age of 51 who needed NHS care in 2020 when they became infected. The third was connected with fans.

Six months after their illness, they passed a series of memory, attention, and reasoning tests.

When their results were compared to those of 66,000 members of the public, those who survived the virus were found to have less accurate and slower reaction times.

Although the patients showed “gradual” cognitive improvement 10 months after their illness, the authors said some will never fully regain their former intelligence.

The researchers said their cognitive decline was similar to what is normally seen in people aged 50 to 70, which is equivalent to losing about 10 IQ points.

They also warned that millions of people suffering from a milder version of Covid may be affected, albeit to a lesser extent.