A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports examined 1.3 million patients and discovered that those advised to shield themselves were eight times more likely to contract Covid.
Patients who self-isolated in one location had higher rates of infection and death than those who did not, including clinically vulnerable persons.
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The Glasgow University study, which was published in Scientific Reports, looked at 1.3 million patients in Glasgow and Clyde.
Researchers discovered that the 27,747 people who were recommended to self-isolate themselves were eight times more likely to get Covid than low-risk patients who did not isolate.
They were also five times more likely to become infected than the 353,085 people with underlying health problems who did not protect themselves.
“Our study showed that shielding may be of limited value in reducing burden on health services because, in spite of the shielding strategy, high risk individuals were at increased risk of death,” stated Professor Jill Pell of Glasgow University.
We believe that, to be effective as a population strategy, shielding criteria would have needed to be widely expanded to include other criteria, such as the elderly.
To effectively protect high-risk individuals, shielding should be used alongside other population-wide measures such as physical distancing, face coverings and hand hygiene.
Shielding, or extended self-isolation, was enforced across the UK to protect individuals alleged to be at high risk from Covid.
In the shielded group, there were 299 (1.1%) confirmed infections and 140 (0.51%) deaths from Covid-19.
In the moderate risk group, there were 1,859 (0.53%) confirmed infections and 803 (0.23%) deaths from Covid-19, and 1,190 (0.13%) confirmed infections and 84 (0.01%) deaths in the low-risk group.
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The study also found that people aged 70 and up accounted for nearly half of all deaths.
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