When COVID first struck, airports and countries had no way of accurately knowing if a passenger was infected or not. There was a great reliance on temperature checks and health questionnaires in order to detect those with coronavirus. We were tasked by a multi-national to see if there was a better way to keep passengers safe, as well as the country’s population into which they were arriving.
As we have advised during previous epidemics, we knew that temperature checks were ineffective at finding who was infected with the virus. This had been clearly shown during the global SARS outbreak in 2009. Our deep knowledge of Immunology, the HIV pandemic, and genetic tests such as PCR allowed us to understand that only a specific and sensitive test such as PCR, would truly detect those with COVID. But no PCR clinic had ever been set up to test passengers at airports: we were advocating a totally new proposition.
We presented the airport PCR testing proposal to the British Government. Unfortunately, the prevailing scientific opinion was that even PCR would not work at airports – it would be only 7% effective. From our scientific background, we knew this to be wrong. The erroneous scientific opinion had to be corrected if our airport testing proposal was to be accepted.
“I met Simon at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as he was looking for accredited diagnostic laboratories to provide PCR testing for the travel industry. His honesty, intelligence and pragmatism were a great fit for us and we delivered an excellent service together for over a year. It was truly refreshing to work with someone outside of my industry who shared the same core values, attention to detail and compassion. I can honestly say that the professional relationship and experience we shared rank among the best of my career… I would work with him again in a heartbeat.”
The prevailing scientific opinion was duly corrected, and it was accepted that our airport PCR scheme would work, and work well. We were instrumental with the designing, staffing, running, and accrediting, 17 airport clinics in the UK. Over the time of the pandemic, we tested 2 million passengers. Our innovation led to informing government policy, keeping people safe, and supporting trade and tourism.