The impact of fear on clinically vulnerable

Paul was quoted in this story in The Telegraph analysing the latest figures that huge numbers of clinically vulnerable people are still shielding despite lifting of restrictions - because they're too scared to go out. Paul said: “One of the potentially most harmful longer-term consequences of the responses over the last year, has been the manipulation of fear to encourage compliance with social distancing measures. Since the beginning of the pandemic, people have been exposed to daily reports of transmission rates, hospitalisations and virus deaths without placing any of these figures in context. 

“Manipulating public emotion is a dangerous and costly exercise that will impact lives and livelihoods for a long time to come, and potentially long after the virus has been dealt with.” You can read the full article here (paywall).