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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 29 November 2024
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Displaying 2171 contributions

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COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

Okay, thanks.

My final point concerns a question that I put to the earlier panel, which was about the desire to have a chief scientist for public health. Does any of you have an opinion on that?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

I am tempted to get into a debate on some of that. As you will probably know, in the political field everyone wants the money to go into accident and emergency, to deal with the actual issues.

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

That sounds very positive. Does Professor Gunson want to come in?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

Seeing as you are there, I will ask you this. I do not totally understand some of the technical stuff that we were given. For example, a Scottish Government report on modelling the spread of Covid-19 says that, in November,

“wastewater Covid-19 levels were in the range of 21 to 32 million gene copies per person per day.”

Can you or one of your colleagues explain even roughly what that means?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

The conversation has been really interesting. I have to say that I am not an expert on sewage or related matters.

I will start with a question for George Ponton. What waste water surveillance was going on before Covid, particularly on diseases? What were you actually looking for, and how much water surveillance was happening?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

Dr Helliwell, were other countries doing that? Did the idea of testing the water start with Covid?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

That is an interesting point. Where I live, people are now trying to separate rainwater from sewage. Is that important? Would that be helpful?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

You talked about a correlation regarding testing waste water and testing the samples that health boards were getting directly from people. When new variants came along, who was picking them up first? Was it you, or was that coming from testing?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

Right.

COVID-19 Recovery Committee [Draft]

Covid-19 Surveillance

Meeting date: 15 December 2022

John Mason

You have all made the point that it has been good to work across the UK on this. One would presume that there should be UK funding for work right across the UK, so perhaps some of this funding would come from Westminster.