[News] Covid response ‘one of UK’s worst ever public health failures’

[Kinky Gerbil]

I'm not sure hindsight was required to see that putting untested elderly in to care home was a terrible idea; just a modicum of common sense would've done.

This is the main cause of deaths alongside appalling hospital infection control.

Hancock’s ring of steal and sage not knowing how care homes actually work are the reasons they got hit.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Big fan of Rory but I imagine many can't get past his look (and his pro fox hunting stance). Too much emphasis nowadays about how politicians come across on the tv rather than their actual intelligence. Shame he has faded away.

 

[dazzer6666]

But that's exactly what the report says. The government was concerned that the public wouldn't respond favourably so didn't try. When, in fact, when we were locked down, the public responded pretty well.

….in part because so many people were evidently dying by then and the hospitals were at breaking point.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Well this thread has gone pretty much exactly how I'd expected it to

 

[nwgull]

The abiding image for me was of Johnson showboating about having 'shaken hands' with hospital patients. That set the tone for the shambles that followed.

Me too. It just demonstrated that he had a complete lack of understanding of the contagiousness of the virus; he thought he was the 2020 equivalent of Diana publicly shaking hands with AIDS patients at a hospital in an attempt to remove fear and stigma about the virus in the mid 80s.

 

[The Clamp]

Even now they're still trying to herd people back to the office for no good reason other than it's costing some of their corporate landlords a lot of money.

There does seem to be an effort to “put it all behind us”, probably an effort by the government to avoid scrutiny, yet paradoxically blaming our current infrastructure issues and financial straits on the pandemic.

And it seems pretty obvious that as you say, it’s also to get the revenue flowing back to the landlords.
I’m of the opinion that the Conservative party are nothing more than the political arm of the elite. A branch of the wealthy to represent the interests of the rich in parliament. When viewed in that way, this government’s agenda is not hard to comprehend.

 

[The Clamp]

Well this thread has gone pretty much exactly how I'd expected it to

Agreed. But an important discussion to have in view of the report. To be fair, all sides are remaining respectful and have avoided bear-pittery thus far.

 

[zefarelly]

our governments response was absolutely diabolical throughout much of the pandemic

we're an island AND were given warning for crying out loud

Quite, it was an impossible task New Zeland proves it ;-)

incompetence doesn't even scratch the surface.

 

[Steve in Japan]

Seems to me that until all the impacts of lockdown are properly understood, this report is premature. I am thinking of the broader health impact, not to mention the financial impact of printing money to the extent we have. I suspect we will all be a lot poorer in a few years.

 

[vegster]

It's very good timing for our Prime Minister to be on holiday. This will blow over quite easily and it will be completely forgotten by the time of the next General Election.

 

[el punal]

Has any government of any country handled this crisis well?

 

[The Clamp]

Has any government of any country handled this crisis well?

I think that’s the wrong question to ask. I think the question should be; what are the reasons different governments acted how they did?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

The government was warned before Cheltenham Races and the Liverpool match were played. Both went ahead.

Feel free to correct me, but wasn’t Sage advice it was ok because it was out side

Sage also pushed for delaying the lockdown from memory.

Johnson’s a ****ing clown, but a review should be full and look into every aspect of this - not just the Tories.

 

[Audax]

Only point I disagree on is whether Labour would have done any better. Starmer is a pisspoor opposition leader, just at the time we need a good one.

I agree, Starmer hasn't been a great opposition leader. Thing is ... I suspect he would have been a far better PM than Johnson. IMO there are politicians that excel in government, and are poor in opposition, and vice versa. Rare is the polly who excels at both. had Labour already been in government when Starmer became leader, I think we'd all be talking of him very differently today. Unfortunately, being piss poor in opposition likely means we'll never find out if I'm right or not.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

….yet the biggest failure - incomprehensible late lockdown - was in part due to following SAGE advice.

It wasn't inomprehensible tho, was it? SAGE and hmgov were initially in two minds over following a strategy of herd immunity - until they realised the full implications and the public revulsion that would follow by just letting the virus rip through the community completely unchecked (again as flagged on NSC in real time)

Very interesting article here on the herd immunity timelines (behind a paywall but you get one article free)

https://www.newstatesman.com/uncate...ursued-herd-immunity-and-why-it-was-abandoned

 

[dazzer6666]

Has any government of any country handled this crisis well?

It’s not even over yet so too early to call……….a few months ago Australia was being lauded for it’s approach…….TBH I’m pretty nervous about what the winter holds, and hoping that the vaccine/boosters do the job. Other illnesses are going to continue to be a big problem too (we’re already seeing some very nasty, long-duration colds etc as masks and lack of distancing starts allowing these things to spread again)

 

[The Clamp]

Feel free to correct me, but wasn’t Sage advice it was ok because it was out side

Sage also pushed for delaying the lockdown from memory.

Johnson’s a ****ing clown, but a review should be full and look into every aspect of this - not just the Tories.

Exactly right. All departments need review.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

It's very good timing for our Prime Minister to be on holiday. This will blow over quite easily and it will be completely forgotten by the time of the next General Election.

It will come as a bit of a shock but I am in complete agreement with you
A report on the handling of the most important issue in modern times and the PM is on holiday. Not good enough.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

It’s not even over yet so too early to call……….a few months ago Australia was being lauded for it’s approach…….TBH I’m pretty nervous about what the winter holds, and hoping that the vaccine/boosters do the job. Other illnesses are going to continue to be a big problem too (we’re already seeing some very nasty, long-duration colds etc as masks and lack of distancing starts allowing these things to spread again)

I heard Jenny Harries on LBC yesterday talking about a doubling in the risk of death if you catch Covid and flu at the same time. Found an article here:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp....u-twice-as-likely-to-die-says-uk-health-chief

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Feel free to correct me, but wasn’t Sage advice it was ok because it was out side

Sage also pushed for delaying the lockdown from memory.

Johnson’s a ****ing clown, but a review should be full and look into every aspect of this - not just the Tories.

Including Operation Cygnus in 2016, which looked at the aspects of a global epidemic, but was ignored.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...us-operation-results-court-case-a9592081.html