You may remember model Caprice Bourretfrom the peak of her fame in the Nineties when there was rarely a copy of FHM, GQ or Maxim without her on the cover. More recently, Caprice found herself in the headlines back in March when she appeared onJeremy Vine’s Channel 5 show to discuss the spread of coronavirus and suggested that wearing face masks would be a good approach to try and temper it. Whilst mocked at the time on social media for not having a clue what she was talking about, today Caprice’s name has been trending as Twitter users push Jeremy Vine to apologise for dismissing the model’s suggestion.
During the discussion about face masks, fellow guest Dr Sarah Jarvis, a GP, snapped: ‘No disrespect, unless you have read every scientific paper and statistical modelling paper that’s come out, you cannot argue with me on that. You can have an opinion but it’s not a fact.’
Caprice, 48, argued: ‘But I can, I have an opinion. This is what I’ve read – let me tell you the facts. In Taiwan and Singapore, what they did they early on – in week one, in February, everyone was wearing surgical masks…’
The GP cut her off to say: ‘Which make no difference at all.’ Jeremy then added: ‘Alright, but Sarah is the expert, but go on.’
Following the government’s announcement that decreed we must all wear face masks in shops as of July 24, Jeremy Vine has maintained he was still correct to leap to Dr Jarvis's defence, tweeting, ‘The science on mask-wearing is still shaky. When these two were speaking there was concern that a push for mask-wearing by the public would deplete kit needed by the NHS.’
During the same show, Caprice - who said at the time she was citing information she’d obtained from the World Health Organisation - also backed an immediate two week lockdown and flight quarantine, yet was similarly dismissed by Dr Jarvis who scoffed that any lockdowns had ‘categorically not worked.’
Journalist Carole Cadwalladr tweeted the March clip from Jeremy Vine’s show on Tuesday, ‘So there you have it. If Caprice had been in charge not Boris Johnson, around 40,000 people might still be alive.’ Another Twitter user said, ‘Looking at this, it's not cool that they undermine Caprice so much, especially when Dr Jarvis is punching above her weight, as she's not an expert on virology. Caprice is pointing out successful strategies. As of yesterday, Taiwan and Singapore combined had 54 deaths from COVID.’
Meanwhile Caprice has written in an Instagram post, 'It all comes out in the end !!!!... I was on @jeremyvineon5 show and had an altercation with another guest a GP who attacked my comments regarding wearing masks ...I just felt very strongly what the World Health Organisation advised regarding the use of masks and what other countries that successfully controlled the virus early on where doing ... not about being right or controversial ... all about saving lives.'
Maybe if there’s a second spike, we should listen to Caprice.
READ MORE: Will Wearing Face Masks Now Become The New Normal For Us All?