A Letter to the Covid Inquiry 

Dear Baroness Hallet,

I find it strange that the inquiry you chair goes into lots of aspects of the Covid pandemic, but I can’t see that any of the modules actually look at practical ways of mitigating the effects of future respiratory virus pandemics. It also is surprising that there is little on how business handled the situation thrown at it. For the engine room of the economy to be virtually disregarded by your deliberations, seems rather amiss.

As a business, we could not afford to shut down for an indeterminant amount of time when lockdown was announced. As an engineering company, selling into the agricultural and materials handling markets with more than seventy percent of sales overseas, if we had shut we would at the very least have been seriously knocked back and our customers would have been forced to go elsewhere.

In an engineering business there is only a limited proportion of people who can work from home.

The Prime Minister used, when announcing lockdown, the unfortunate term: “essential worker” when referring to those who could go into work. Many of our employees felt that referred to those working for the emergency cervices, whilst I understood it to be those essential to this business. As we had a substantial percentage who did not agree with me, I decided to furlough them and work on with those who were happy to come in, alongside some of the office staff who could work from home.

The initial advice about washing hands was about the only truly practical advice we received.   However, working on the basis of Covid being a respiratory virus, we researched as to what had been shown to work against these in the past. We also worked on the principle that we wanted to keep the disease out of the building, and if anyone came in with it then they could be identified quickly and helped to get home. Equally, we wanted to help those who were fit and healthy to stay that way and be strong enough to repel the virus should they come in contact with it.

As spring was on its way, we were able to make sure that there was plenty of air movement in any enclosed spaces where employees were working. We also ensured that there was a ready supply of salt should anyone want to clear their throats and noses through gargling salt water. The correct strength of hand gel could not be purchased at this time, so we purchased raw Aloe Vera extract and Isopropyl and mixed in the WHO recommended proportions. As it was believed that the virus could be transmitted through touching surfaces, initially all surfaces including computer keyboards were treated with isopropyl (rubbing alcohol). Knowing that viruses are killed by ultra violet light, we made a number of handheld UV scanners that allowed us to rapidly treat large areas twice a day.

Knowing that copper kills viruses on contact, we made and replaced all the original door handles with copper ones and fitted copper sheet to the tops of work benches and the canteen table to prevent any chance of spread through touch. The door push plates were also replaced with copper. Our forefathers used copper, brass and silver specifically because they were known to stop the spread of pathogens, however, this has been forgotten and now most door handles are made from aluminium or stainless steel which have no anti-viral properties. The other measure we took in summer 2020 was to install an infrared thermometer that took our temperatures on entering the building. I am not sure if it has ever detected someone with an elevated temperature due to Covid, but it has picked up plenty who have come in after sitting in a hot car or been outside in the sun during their lunch break.

With summer 2020 turning to autumn, we needed to find ways to keep the air in enclosed spaces clean without having lots of doors and windows open. We were also keen to find ways of encouraging all our employees to boost their immune systems to make them more resilient against the virus. To solve the first problem, we installed a number of air clearers with Hepa filters and built in UV sterilising lights. I had over the years found UV extremely effective at killing all sorts of micro-organisms, and these cleaners have been very effective. As to the second problem, I had read a considerable amount of research, prior to the pandemic, into how winter supplementation with Vitamin D3 with K is very effective in helping one’s immune system fight off respiratory viruses. As the pandemic progressed, there were a number of reports coming from Sweden and Spain confirming that Vitamin D3 was similarly effective in helping the body fight Covid-19.

Using a commercial testing company, we arranged for everyone who wanted it to receive a Vitamin D and general health blood test. Virtually everyone had very low, and some almost non-existent amounts of Vitamin D in their blood. We then made available enough Vitamin D3 in either spray or pill form to give everyone at least a daily amount of 4000iu, which we understood to be the amount required to achieve the optimal blood level. Though we had had one person going down with what later turned out to be Covid in February 2020, we had no cases until just before Christmas 2020 when two went down with it, one having caught it from her son, and the other from family or friends. The first person stayed away from work, but the second one initially tested negative and was told that he probably had flu. Feeling better after Christmas, he worked with us in the three days prior to New Year, but then tested positive on New Years eve 2020. He did not however, pass it on to any of the rest of us who had been working with him.

So far to date we have not had any on premises transmission; all cases that we have had have been isolated ones, or between two people car sharing to and from work. A number have had it more than once, but no one has suffered seriously.

Throughout the pandemic, we were bombarded by rules and guidelines issued by the Scottish and UK governments. Initially we tried to follow and obey them, but as almost every week more were added and they became ever more specific, we just ignored them as we could not apply many of them to our circumstances, and from our experience they were not going to help the situation. By late 2021 we were beginning to notice a number of things:

Firstly: the vaccine did not offer long term protection, contrary to what we had previously been told.

Secondly: those taking boosters often seemed to go down with Covid within a month, or so, of getting the shot.

Thirdly: tests were often giving a negative result when ill, but a positive result when better.

Fourthly: mask wearing was ineffective and in fact seemed to exacerbate the illness if it developed.

Fifthly: gargling with grapefruit seed extract in water after testing positive would clear the virus from your throat and nose and lead to a very quick recovery.

In response to points three and four, we reverted our policy to if you felt ill to stay off work but when you felt better to return and not to bother doing a Covid test. We have not yet had any internal transmission resulting from this change. We also allowed people to go maskless when not in close proximity to others, and fairly soon dropped the need to wear masks at all; and again, this has not led to any sort of internal transmission.

I can’t speak for everyone in the business, but most have not taken any more than the first booster and some nothing more than the initial two vaccine doses. The key lessons from our experience have been:

1. Boosting natural immunity with winter D3 supplementation is very effective protection both against the disease and also helping to fight it should you go down with it.
2. Our UV air cleaners seem to be very effective at preventing transmission within an office or other enclosed environment.
3. Virucidal effects of copper can be harnessed to prevent spread through door handles and other frequently touched items.
4. Masks were completely ineffective at preventing transmission between those sharing cars.

Despite being visited by council employees early on during the first lockdown who asked why we were open, we stayed open throughout the pandemic and though our UK business dropped off steeply over the first few days of the first lockdown, we had by the end of our financial year made up almost all of the lost ground.

After being on furlough for three weeks a number of employees started calling to find out if they could come back in and by September 2020 we were once again back to a full complement. Come the end of our financial year, we repaid the furlough in full as it seemed wrong for our profit to be inflated by the taxpayer.

Based on our experience with Covid, I would certainly not be as trusting of government and their advisers next time round. Much of what came out of government has proved to be either wrong or plain stupid. An example being the banning of people from meeting outside, which flew in the face of all experience with viruses that they do not survive in almost any sort of sunlight.

I believe we demonstrated that by applying known practical, anti-viral measures, the disease could be controlled and spread prevented without affecting economic and general well-being.

Yours sincerely,

Alastair MacMillan

Alastair MacMillan runs White House Products Ltd, a manufacturer, distributor and exporter of hydraulic components to over 100 countries. He is a supporter of the Jobs Foundation.

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