Talk Evidence - isolation periods, openness, and environmental impacts

In the first Talk Evidence of 2022, we'll be asking about the evidence for isolation - now that isolation periods are being reduced, or even stopped in the event of a negative lateral flow test, we'll find out what data that's based on, and if it's appropriate.

Vaccinations and treatments for covid-19 have been the one major success story of the pandemic, but that doesn't mean we should abandon the principles of openness and transparency when it comes to scrutinising the data - we'll hear what access to the data which underlies regulatory approval could do now.

Finally, the impacts of climate change were set out in a WHO report in November last year - and recent weather seems to underline their conclusions. We'll discuss new evidence linking the environment and health, and ask what clinicians can do with that.

Reading list:

Mitigating isolation: The use of rapid antigen testing to reduce the impact of self-isolation periods

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.23.21268326v1.full.pdf

Covid-19 vaccines and treatments: we must have raw data, now

https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o102

WHO report: Climate change and health

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

Ambient heat and risks of emergency department visits among adults in the United States: time stratified case crossover study

https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-065653

Residential exposure to transportation noise in Denmark and incidence of dementia: national cohort study

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1954

Long term exposure to low level air pollution and mortality in eight European cohorts within the ELAPSE project: pooled analysis

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1904