Scathing attack on government Covid-19 response

Reminds of a stand up routine by Alan Cochrane about being prime minister this thread.

It basically goes “being prime minister must be the worst job in the world, everyone thinks they can do it better than you You see people saying “he’s an idiot this bloke he doesn’t know what he’s doing I could do that job standing on my head”

“Who you?, your in a weatherspoons at 10am drinking, wearing a tracksuit.... with shoes”
 
I can just imagine the spite and anger had there been a labour govt under Corbyn sitting in No 10.


however, this is a global concern and we must work hard to co-operate with each other (as people and nations) to find a solution, but its ominous we are in for a new chapter on this planet, "its life Jim, but not as we know it"
 
My boss came into my small office at work last week. He was coughing and sneezing and saying how unwell he was feeling. At the weekend I began feeling unwell and so have taken some sick leave. My boss has been off since Thursday last week. I called him to see how he was and he is feeling very ill indeed. We have both contacted 111 and received the same advise, stay at home and self-isolate. Neither of us have been to Italy etc and nor have we been tested, despite contacting the authorities but we both use London Public Transport. If it is Covid then I would think that it is spreading quickly so I have asked friends to stay away, particularly two who would be classed at greater risk. Those on this site that are poopooing the risk should be aware that ignorance won’t keep them or their families safe and neither will Boris. We have gone from just wash your hands and we will take this on the chin to many families will lose loved ones before their time. All in two days.
 
"We have gone from just wash your hands and we will take this on the chin to many families will lose loved ones before their time. All in two days"

We really haven't. It STILL makes sense to wash your hands LOADS... and we've still got to take it on the chin. There's no alternative. That was the case weeks ago.

I'm surprised that more people didn't think it was likely to be serious when China (who would do so as a last resort) alerted the wider world, but also locked down cities. It was clearly much worse than a cold or normal flu.

It's an information balance though. The vast majority of us will still be absolutely fine. (Which isn't playing down the significance for those who aren't (ANY of us included). It's just a fact).
 
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Cuthbert said:
"We have gone from just wash your hands and we will take this on the chin to many families will lose loved ones before their time. All in two days"

We really haven't. It STILL makes sense to wash your hands LOADS... and we've still got to take it on the chin. There's no alternative. That was the case weeks ago.

I'm surprised that more people didn't think it was likely to be serious when China (who would do so as a last resort) alerted the wider world, but also locked down cities. It was clearly much worse than a cold or normal flu.

It's an information balance though. The vast majority of us will still be absolutely fine. (Which isn't playing down the significance for those who aren't (ANY of us included). It's just a fact).
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But this misses the whole point. It’s not about who will be fine and who won’t. The measures other countries are taking and why our government is being criticised for not taking is to slow it down so that our health service isn’t absolutely overwhelmed.
 
Who’s criticising? The paid up member of the Labour Party in the guardian. Simple matter is no one knows how it’s going to pan out yet. The government and top medical advisors believe this is the best approach. It’s ok standing on the sidelines shouting do something else
 
GazC_MFC said:
Didn’t the science people tells us we are 4 weeks behind Italy. 4 weeks ago Italy had 3 cases.....
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I think it's 13.5 days. Last I heard. Not sure why the 0.5 let's call it a fortnight.

Interesting that if you compare rates by head of population Italy is FAR worse than any other country, including countries like South Korea and China who have had it for a long time. Maybe they are an outlier and not to be compared? Or maybe they really are ahead of the curve and the rest of Europe is going to really get it? I'll tell you in a fortnight. Providing I don't succumb.
 
Cooper6711 said:
Who’s criticising? The paid up member of the Labour Party in the guardian. Simple matter is no one knows how it’s going to pan out yet. The government and top medical advisors believe this is the best approach. It’s ok standing on the sidelines shouting do something else
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Erm, lots of proper experts are criticising. Even Jeremy Hunt is criticising. Other countries are not adopting our approach. The countries that have been the most successful did not follow our approach. This is not a partisan issue and to make it one is to cheapen yourself. We are a maximum of four weeks behind Italy and for some reason have moved to mitigation measures in spite of every other country adopting a different approach. Wake up and smell the coffee.
 
And I can could sit here and find medical people who agree with the approach. If it turns out to be the wrong approach then it will be a disaster. I don’t see how anyone knows at this stage and leading medical advice given to the government is to take this approach. I’m happy to follow that. I don’t think it should be political but some want to make it. It’s a question of do you trust the medical experts that are advising. I can’t see how we can’t. I hope I’m right
 
Cooper is right. Essentially we can only say this is the wrong approach if, when it all dies down we were worse off than other countries.

If we survive of course.
 
Totally agree ST we may disagree on a few things but we agree on this and our like of Frank Turner (y) lol
 
I'm no lefty, but even I think the response has been very odd. The UK approach seems to be that since everyone is going to get the virus anyway eventually (which may well be true) there's no point in genuinely trying to contain the virus. People wouldn't like it - seems to be the reason.

New information about how the virus spreads suggests the UK approach may be flawed. The virus is out in the community and spreads so quickly the NHS will inevitably be completely overwhelmed regardless of the "delay" approach. Short of getting the whole country to stay at home for a few weeks.

Inbound travel should have been restricted from the very start, and travelers required to remain in quarantine for two weeks. Allowing Spanish fans to travel to the Liverpool game was crazy. New research suggests the virus remains active in the air for three hours, so if you wandered around the concourses coughing at half time you could infect dozens of fans - not the two or three the "scientists" advised. This is what happened at a US convention where 70 people were infected by one individual.

If the virus progresses as fast as in Italy, before long the entire country will be shut down. Italy at least managed to restrict infection to the north. There's no hope of that in the UK.
 
Cooper6711 said:
I don’t see how anyone knows at this stage and leading medical advice given to the government is to take this approach.
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As I suggest in the earlier post, it seems some people do know at this stage, and the UK approach is flawed.

Assuming the virus would only infect 2 or 3 people in a large group seems to be a fundamental error.
 
20% of Lombardy health care workers have been diagnosed, some are dying.

It’s scary the response from our government. My wife may have to treat coronavirus patients if Teesside has a major outbreak

I’ve also been told by a customer that nhs are telling people to come to work when other companies are asking people to self isolate
 
As said above it’s conjecture on how things are going to pan out but it would make sense to have consistency with other countries that are experiencing the outbreak, where’s the logic in having Madrid in virtual lockdown but allowing 3000 fans to travel to Liverpool, or Ireland to have sporting events behind closed doors and thousands over for Cheltenham, it would seem appropriate to restrict events with mass numbers where the virus can spread proactively rather than reactively, keep calm and carry on is very commendable and restricts the hysteria of panic to a degree but if that policy is going to cause further loss of life and higher rate of infection then it is wrong. This isn’t government bashing or politically biased in anyway I’d have the same opinion regardless who was in charge.
 
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