Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson has been a prominent voice arguing against restrictions which are intended to control the spread of the virus, and has promoted many Covid Sceptic arguments in her columns. She has argued that "there is no evidence that lockdown works", and that "we must learn to live with the virus."
In Summer 2020 she claimed Covid-19 was "no longer an epidemic" would be "gone from these isles by September". She accused the government of "pretending that a lethal pandemic is sweeping the land". She has said “certain NHS managers have looked on Covid as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to keep patients out of hospital so they can balance their budgets and earn even bigger bonuses” and consistently argued that restrictions are disproportionate (“on the strength of incredibly dubious predictions, we’re about to impose the massive and enduring costs”). She has argued against specific measures like mask use, saying: "I will not demean myself by covering my face".
"The vast majority of people could have some fun with no risk whatsoever. So long as they avoided the vulnerable."
Twitter, 31 December 2020
"Winter 2020 is the lowest hospital bed occupancy for 10 years. Yes, really."
Twitter 29 December 2020
"ICU occupancy is 78% today. Remarkably low for this time of year."
Twitter 29 December 2020
"No justification for putting Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and many other counties with very low Covid into Tier 4 from Boxing Day. This is not evidence-based science. Needless destruction of jobs and families. So sad."
Twitter, 23 December 2020
"No, Minister. Measures that shut all the pubs in Kent because of a viral splutter in the Medway area are far from inevitable or necessary. Try ruinous and totally over the top. Nor, with 85 per cent bed occupancy (much lower than the 94 per cent this time last year) are hospitals about to be overwhelmed."
"It is intolerable that people should suffer so because their health service can’t do its job. Intolerable that a minister previously renowned for his high intelligence should eschew evidence-based policy and emotionally blackmail the British people into complying with rules out of all proportion to the risk posed by a fast-receding virus. Tiers for Fears."
"Stop telling us to protect the NHS when the NHS is failing to protect us", Telegraph, 1 December 2020
"You could be forgiven for thinking the main qualification for sitting on SAGE is no previous experience of being human. Yet a fearful government has subcontracted our daily existence to this odd breed of men and women who clearly view us as lab rats."
"How to enjoy your Christmas dinner... according to Sage", Telegraph, 25 November 2020
"It took a few minutes for my anger to kick in. Are they really going to prolong this pantomime? With graphs from the Office for National Statistics showing a plateauing in positive Covid tests across every region and with no sign of hospitals being overwhelmed, is the Government going to go on pretending that a lethal pandemic is sweeping the land?"
"Where on earth is the common sense among the chaos?", Telegraph, 17 November 2020
"The anticipated deluge of Covid patients never materialised, leaving the Nightingale field hospitals – NHS England built seven, at a cost of £220 million – virtually empty... As national lockdown was reinstated earlier this month, fresh claims the NHS would be overrun were rejected by rebel Conservative MPs, who managed to establish that official projections of 4,000 Covid deaths a day by Christmas were wrong."
"Why do ‘experts’ keep claiming the NHS will be overrun by Covid?", Telegraph, 16 November 2020