New patron of the University’s skin research institute debunks COVID myths

APPEARANCES on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Jeremy Vine’s lunchtime radio show are just two of the many programmes where you will have heard Dr Sarah Jarvis delivering clear, honest advice to the public on a variety of medical issues.

Now, in her role as the new Patron of the University of Huddersfield’s Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention (ISIaIP), Dr Jarvis opened the University’s international conference Wounds Week, organised in conjunction with the Journal of Wound Care, with a talk entitled COVID-19: State of the Nation.

The session commenced with the Director of the ISIaIP Professor Karen Ousey asking how well Dr Jarvis felt the public and UK Government had handled the pandemic and Dr Jarvis replied by praising the younger generation for everything they have done during the pandemic especially when the risks to them were relatively small and the sacrifices they made were huge.

“For example, to put this into perspective,” said Dr Jarvis, “out of 46,000 deaths in the UK, fewer than 10 of these have been children under the age of 18. For those under the age of 40, the risk of death is 70 times less likely than for those over the age of 80.”

However, what Dr Jarvis thinks the population have done less well, is to recognise and come to terms with the fact that this pandemic is not just simply going to go away anytime soon.

“What happened in our care homes, in terms of the spread and the proportion of people in those care homes who have died, has in my opinion led to the worst scandal during the pandemic and it could have been avoided.”

Dr Sarah Jarvis

In terms of the Government, Dr Jarvis applauded the furlough scheme and believes it enabled us as a nation, to be able to get the first wave under control relatively quickly. However, she criticised the Government’s handling of PPE and said that in January and February instead of sending equipment over to China they should have been taking more care of how much PPE the country had in stock. She added that in her opinion the worst scandal happened in the beginning when the Government was in an enormous rush to free up hospital beds and so sent a large proportion of elderly people back to their care homes.

“Of course, we now know this meant they were sending people home into care homes who were already infected with the coronavirus,” said Dr Jarvis.

“What happened in our care homes, in terms of the spread and the proportion of people in those care homes who have died did, in my opinion, lead to a scandal during the pandemic that could have been avoided.”

COVID myths

Dr Jarvis revealed how the transmissibility of COVID was not as high as most people believed in that the coronavirus was actually ten times less infectious than measles and said that after all the research that has been undertaken, it still stands that age is the biggest risk factor in relation to who would be most affected by COVID.

She articulated about a time when she was on Jeremy Vine on Channel 5 at the outset of the UK pandemic. A viewer who rang the show, became terribly cross as they explained on air that in their opinion there was a fundamental difference between them, at the age of 75 and in fantastic shape, than to someone who is 65 but who had never looked after themselves. 

“And I said I absolutely get that,” said Dr Jarvis. “But the problem is, you may feel 30 but your immune system has not read the same memo.  There is absolutely no question that regardless, even if we account for all the underlying comorbidities, age is still the single biggest risk factor.”

She explained that there appears be a  link with testosterone which could explain why men have about a 20% higher risk than women and that perhaps less surprisingly, obesity remains to be a problem.

Professor Ousey asked about the possibilities of having a vaccine ready before Christmas, to which Dr Jarvis replied, in an ideal world yes, but the real case scenario is we are probably looking at about Springtime before one will be made readily available.

Also discussed were the importance of following Government guidelines on wearing face coverings, how ethnic minorities are at a greater risk of dying from the coronavirus and that research is still ongoing to discover the scientific reasoning behind why this is.

Possibility of a second wave?

Finally, Dr Jarvis was asked whether she felt there was to be a second wave of infection as Winter approaches.

“I fear there may well be,” said Dr Jarvis. “Research has shown lower amounts of ultraviolet light (UVC) can have a negative effect and secondly, cooler temperatures may also make a difference but thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, when winter comes we don’t spend as much time outside and that is going to be the biggest issue I think.”

Professor Ousey concluded the session by thanking Dr Jarvis for sharing her expertise and said educating people about the real facts of the virus and in bite size chunks, so they can be easily understood, is extremely important and must be considered in the future.

Dr Sarah Jarvis’ career

Dr Jarvis has over 30 years’ experience in the NHS, and over 26 years as a GP. She combines working as a GP with a role as Clinical Director of the patient information website Patient.info, which provides free health information written by NHS doctors for patients all over the world. Dr Jarvis believes passionately in helping people to take control of their own health, and equally strongly in ensuring that everyone has reliable health information to allow them to make really informed decisions.

She regularly joins Jeremy Vine to discuss health matters and has been the resident doctor for the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2 for the last 16 years. She has been doctor to the One Show on BBC One for the last 10 years, and also appears on Good Morning Britain on ITV, BBC World News, BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 live, Channel 5 news and LBC.

Ironically, Dr Jarvis became involved in medical media completely by accident but loves the fact that it gives her the opportunity to let the facts get in the way of a good headline.

In the 2018 New Year's Honours list, she was awarded an MBE for services to general practice and the public understanding of health.

• Dr Sarah Jarvis' talk entitled COVID-19: State of the Nation is available to view in full by clicking on the link provided