Seven days in medicine: 8-14 July
BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2826 (Published 16 July 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m2826
Covid-19
Face coverings to become mandatory in shops in England
The government announced it will be mandatory for visitors to shops and supermarkets in England to wear a face covering from 24 July. The announcement brings England into line with Scotland and many other European countries. People who don’t adhere to the new rules could be fined up to £100 (€110; $125). The announcement came as the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (iSAGE) published a report on 14 July calling for masks to be used indoors where possible, alongside other protective measures such as ventilation, hand washing, and social distancing.
Adopt “zero tolerance” to avoid deaths, experts say
The UK government should take a “zero tolerance” approach to covid-19 to prevent an estimated 27 000 deaths in England by March 2021, said a group of experts, who included members of iSAGE, the former health secretary for England, Jeremy Hunt, and advisers from across the UK. They called for replacing the “failing NHS Test and Trace system with a fully fledged and locally controlled system of find, test, trace, isolate, support.” The easing of lockdown measures should be slowed down, travel into, out of, and within the UK restricted, and “well designed and scientifically based plans” implemented to quickly contain and suppress local flare ups. (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.m2749)
PPE: Women report more problems than men
A survey of more than 405 clinicians (of whom 292 (72%) were women) concluded that more ergonomic research was needed to improve the functional design of personal protective equipment. The researchers, from Loughborough University, reported in Anaesthesia that a third …
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