To me its a no brainer, not sure why its even a question, seems fairly obvious.
- UK Gov, didn't take on board the reccomendations of the 2016 pandemic report, operation cygnus, this wasnt an if it was a when. It was known this would happen, they just couldnt predict exactly when.
- Because of point 1 frontline staff ran out of PPE and the Gov had to spend millions to get stocks, some of which were not fit for purpose.
- UK's High population density in relation to land mass.
- One of the lowest levels of ICU beds and staff in Europe.
- Didnt close borders. Easy for the UK to close borders as we are an island.
- Slow to react in bring in a lock down, which wasnt really a lock down. Initially went down herd immunity route until doing a sharp U Turn.
- Inconsistent and changing messages all the way through, meaning the public didnt buy into it fully.
- Allowed major sporting events to go ahead. Cheltenham a point in case 500,000 people from all over the country.
- Failed to instigate a working track & trace at the start and wasted millions. Other countries seemed to be able to instigate working systems.
- Kept schools/universities open, saying "theres no indication of it spreading in schools" and Boris "I'll keep schools open regardless of the cost", he didnt say wether that was monetry cost or deaths. Meanwhile specialists (so the scientists knew) on the radio were saying of course it spreads in schools and silently, as kids rarely show symptoms. Later schools were struggling to stay open due to lackof staff.
There are many others, but 10 will do.
The closest country that is similar to the UK in population and population density is Vietnam total cases 1,549 total deaths 35. (If you believe the figures)
Whilst Vietnam didn't lock down totally. Months before the rest of the world acted, it brought in travel restrictions, closed the border with China, schools were closed for 6 months, anyone entering the country quarantine for 14 days, 40% of quarantined cases had the virus but were asymptomatic carriers. Any towns with Positive cases were locked down with no one allowed in or out until two weeks had passed with no confirmed cases.
It wasnt like this snuck up on us, it could be seen coming across the world like a tidal wave. Italy was the best warning but the UK Gov seemed to chose to ignore, stand on the beach and watch the wave coming, rather than running for high ground.
A short sharp lock down at the start, including locking borders and we would have been out of it in 3-6 months, it would have never got to the levels it has. People will say ah well easy to say that in hindsight, well it wasnt hinsight. Ive been saying it from the start, its just common sense, and Vietnam our closest comparison (land area and population density), did just that, locked down well in advance of other countries and achieved possibly the lowest death rate.
Others that have closed borders etc Australia, NZ have achieved the same, although not really compareable, due to population density being much lower.
ooOOoo
Dr Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, responding to data showing the death toll from COVID-19 has exceeded 100,000 people in the UK, said:
‘This is a tragic milestone, and our deepest sympathy goes out to all those who have lost friends and family to COVID-19.
‘The scene for the current crisis was set long before the virus arrived. There has clearly been a lack of long-term planning and horizon scanning — and the investment across government and public agencies needed to do this. Underinvestment in public services has been ignored, leading to staffing shortages in the NHS, an obviously inadequate system for social care and cuts to public health grants over the last decade. This, plus a bias in decision-making towards the short term, has meant the country was not prepared and has struggled to find the capacity needed to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.
‘Decisions and action to protect people in care homes was late and inadequate. Over a quarter of deaths took place in care homes.
‘There was poor appreciation of the skills available in local authorities to help develop a strong test and trace system. Instead the government relied heavily on private contractors, many selected quickly without normal due diligence to cost or value, and the system has struggled to meet its own targets.
‘The pandemic has severely tested governments around the world. The toll of 100,000 deaths in the UK rightly raises huge questions as to how the pandemic was managed. There will need to be full inquiry to make sure lessons are learned for the future. Crucially, this will need to consider the extent to which existing health and economic inequalities in the UK, compared with other developed nations, made our experience far worse.’
https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/news/health-foundation-response-to-the-uk-covid-19-death-toll-exceeding-100000
