DELVE
Science
| "Science" DELVE | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 17 April 2020 |
| Interests | facemasks, COVID-19 |
| Membership | Charles Bangham, Paul Edelstein, Nigel Field, Tim Gowers, Bryan Grenfell, Demis Hassabis, Anne Johnson, Daniel Kahneman, Neil Lawrence, Julie Maxton, Lalita Ramakrishnan, Venki Ramakrishnan, Sylvia Richardson, Devi Sridhar, Nick Stern, Yee Whye Teh |
| Influential group that promoted wearing facemasks in the UK | |
The DELVE group of the Royal Society (Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics) was a group that promoted wearing facemasks in the UK.[1]
Activities
Dr. Gary Sidley wrote that:
it is reasonable to propose that this group of academics, remote from the mainstream Covid decision-making apparatus, was primarily responsible for forcibly muzzling the British people.
Citing a ragbag of highly selective laboratory and observational studies, along with wild overestimates of the degree of asymptomatic transmission and a corruption of the precautionary principle (assuming the intervention is the safe, default position), the DELVE group clamoured for the general public to cover their faces with plastic and cloth. Their intent was clear from the first sentence of their report:
Face masks offer an important tool for managing forward transmission of COVID-19 within the general population.[2]
Backers
DELVE was an initiative convened by the Royal Society. Its Steering Committee" – "a high-level expert group to oversee the work and communicate findings to the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor and his networks in Government" – reveals that many have close affiliations, not only with the Royal Society, but with other pro-restriction and highly-conflicted organisations such as the Wellcome Trust and Imperial College London.[3]