Our Fantastic Response to Covid-19

"Let’s not forget – we already have a fantastic NHS, fantastic testing systems and fantastic surveillance of the spread of disease.

We will make sure the NHS gets all the support it needs to continue their brilliant response to the virus so far.

Our country remains extremely well prepared, as it has been since the outbreak began in Wuhan several months ago.

Finally, crucially, we must not forget what we can all do to fight this virus, which is to wash your hands with soap and hot water for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice."

Boris Johnson, Statement on Coronavirus Action Plan, 3 March 2020

I should have known better when the PM and the government ministers kept repeating that they were being guided by scientific experts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. It is what they do, introduce the designated scapegoats early when faced with wicked issues.

Neighbours who had booked a cruise to South East Asia had seen the spread of coronavirus and cancelled their holiday by mid-January. In early February we decided not to make a trip to London as the first UK cases were announced. By March we had battened down the hatches and were not eating out and only shopping at quiet times. Our son's employers closed their offices and asked everyone to work from home for more than a week before the government finally announced the lockdown on 23 March.

Like others, I could not understand why the UK was going into lockdown a couple of weeks behind many European countries. But Europe is usually ahead of us in most things as it is with time zones. Although France and Spain have the same longitudes as the UK, they prefer being ahead of the curve with the one-hour lead that the Central Europe consolidated time zone provides.

I had assumed that given the superlatives that the government were lavishing on the NHS and their "world-leading scientific experts" they had procurement of equipment and testing well in hand. I also assumed that it was self-evident that the population most in danger would be those in care, both in residential homes and receiving daily visits from carers. There are over a million people in care in the UK and any rudimentary study of demography indicates that this is where the highest proportion of deaths would occur.

I was wrong on all counts, the medical and scientific advisers had been part of a wider group where behavioural scientists had pointed out the frustrations that could occur with an early lockdown and the government were anxious not to close down businesses and put the already fragile economy into freefall. The government were playing Footsie with the pandemic and displaying their true laissez-faire credentials.

When the PM began his daily briefings, he was supported by his wingmen - the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser. They watched his back and gave some gravitas to the briefings, much needed given the PM's tendency to wing it, as in his briefing statement above. It is only in the last week or so that they have both admitted that they thought the slow response had cost lives and that testing wasn't ramped up fast enough. But they are too late, the PM has already strapped them into the box seats for the blame.

Whether they were culpable for the equally disastrous failure to focus attention on those in care is uncertain. The daily announcement of the numbers who have contracted Covid-19 and the number of deaths were presented as an absolute total for England although the figures only related to deaths in hospitals. The statistics from other countries that are further ahead of the UK show that up to 50% of deaths have occurred in community settings. Even the Scottish figures are showing that 30% of deaths have been in care homes.

Surely the government advisers and demographers must have known this and yet until the past few days, these statistics have been knowingly, or unknowingly, ignored. The ignominy that goes with this is a result of the almost criminal failure to ensure that personal protective equipment and testing have been a priority in the care sector. This has included a failure to test patients who have been released from hospitals to care homes. Does the Health and Care Minister, Matt Hancock, really care about Care?. His propensity to change his mind, make idle promises and fudge issues is the stuff of legend?

We are now hoping for some advice from the government on when and how lockdown will be scaled back. In Germany, the Chancellor has had meetings with the heads of the 16 German state premiers and there has been an announcement of an easing of lockdown based upon genuine scientific reasoning with an App to assist with social distancing. In Denmark, Austria, Italy, and Spain there has been some loosening of the lockdown and more transparent discussions. In the UK, there is merely an announcement that we don't want people being diverted from staying inside, complying with the guidance, and thus intensifying their anxieties. This lack of trust in its citizens to observe lockdown together with its fundamental laissez-faire attitude suggests a government in meltdown. What a bunch of charlatans in charge of our over-centralised ship of state.