I think on the whole the government have done a good job, yes there have been a few things that could have been done better but that is always the case.
Guy
If we're talking about naive remarks the above might be considered for inclusion in the honours list. Here's the beginning of the British dealings with the coronavirus pandemic, all fact-checked. There is more but I don't want to bore you. Is this what you consider to be 'a good job'?
December 31st China alerts WHO to new virus.
January 23rd Study reveals a third of China’s patients require intensive care.
On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. As of 3 January 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. Of the 44 cases reported, 11 are severely ill, while the remaining 33 patients are in stable condition. According to media reports, the concerned market in Wuhan was closed on 1 January 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection.
The causal agent has not yet been identified or confirmed. On 1 January 2020, WHO requested further information from national authorities to assess the risk.
National authorities report that all patients are isolated and receiving treatment in Wuhan medical institutions. The clinical signs and symptoms are mainly fever, with a few patients having difficulty in breathing, and chest radiographs showing invasive lesions of both lungs.
In other words the “problem” was reported as pneumonia something the whole world knew how to treat so no great cause for concern, even though now with hindsight, people want to make out otherwise.
January 24th Boris Johnson misses first Cobra meeting.
January 29th Boris Johnson misses second Cobra meeting.
January 31st The NHS declares first ever ‘Level 4 critical incident’ Meanwhile, the government declines to join European scheme to source PPE.
February 5th Boris Johnson misses third Cobra meeting.
February 12th Boris Johnson misses fourth Cobra meeting.
Cobra Meetings are not some top level conference you are trying to make out, some of its meetings, which tend to be hardly reported, are attended only by civil servants. Most are routinely chaired by the departmental ministers concerned, you are simple trying to score political points with this. Cobra is one way of highlighting the need for an early cross-government focus on a crisis and the Chair reports directly to the Prime Minister.
Exeter University published study warning Coronavirus could infect 45 million people in the UK if left unchallenged.
February 13th Boris Johnson misses conference call with European leaders.
February 14th Boris Johnson goes away on holiday. Aides are told keeps Johnson’s briefing notes short or he will not read them.
February 18th Johnson misses fifth cobra meeting.
February 26th Boris Johnson announces ‘Herd Immunity’ strategy, announcing some people will lose loved ones. Government document is leaked, predicting half a million Brits could die in ‘worse case scenario’
February 29th Boris Johnson retreats to his country manor. NHS warns of ‘PPE shortage nightmare’ Stockpiles have dwindled or expired after years of austerity cuts.
More Digital Spy claims pasted from their forum taken out of context.
I will just comment on the last mentioned.
“NHS warns of ‘PPE shortage nightmare’ Stockpiles have dwindled or expired after years of austerity cuts.”
The UK had/have stockpiles of emergency use supplies, these supplies are not just sitting in a warehouse but are part of a stock of material that is stored or changed depending on what is thought would be required in an emergency. The general medical thinking was we needed to stockpile in case of pneumonia which is what was done. The NHS would not use gowns when treating cases of cases pneumonia but would use aprons, so gowns were not high priority to stockpile.
As for stock being out of date, it is common practice to re-test stored items to ensure they still comply to standards and are fit to use, this was done with the stored gowns. It is true the UK government sent various stock to help China fight the virus rather than ring fence everything they held for internal supply like Turkey did, but that simply points out the humanitarian efforts of the UK government and not a failing.
The biggest failing of this government and other earlier governments was not to learn from the shortages of WWII where the UK had supply problems due to U-Boats. They should have ensured that the UK was self sufficient but failed to do so.
Cheers
Guy
