This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Friday 19 February 2021
Beware Day trippers?
Lately, you tend to get judgement well before the analysis. One of the stories inflaming the passions of newspapers and TV, in the summer of 2020, were the 'senseless, super-spreader' events seen on UK beaches. People emerging from the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic, went to the seaside in 'large' numbers. This was condemned as being highly antisocial. Professor Mark Woolhouse (Edinburgh University) has now revealed that no outbreaks have been linked to this activity (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/19/how-the-beach-super-spreader-myth-can-inform-uks-future-covid-response). The media response now seems to have been an over-reaction. The events all occurred outside, in strong sunshine. Although the beaches appeared crowded (shots often appeared to be designed to make the density seem as high as possible), most individuals seemed to cluster as family groups (a bit like the approved 'bubbles'). We now know that Covid-19's major mode of transfer is via aerosols from coughing, breathing and talking. The conditions (unlike being confined in a room, participating in an illegal 'rave' or packing on to a passenger plane), did not lend themselves to this mode of transmission. The major irritation was the suspicion that some people seemed to be enjoying themselves too much?
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