Our government have messed up. What would you have done?

[Concerned7777]

So many posts about how the government have messed up, not handled things well, they're a shambles etc
I'm interested to know what people would have done in they was the PM or what they would do now/next ?
What has been done wrong and what has been right?
disclaimer I'm not suggesting the Gov are right or wrong just after peoples thoughts

[blackpeonies]

• sent some Public Health England mega salary people on a study trip recce to Hong Kong, Japan and Seoul some time between 2010 and 2018
  
• copied their action plan for sars-type (constant disinfection in all buildings and public places, masks)
  
• short, sharp lockdown in mid-Feb (for 3-4 weeks)
  
• trace and track from early Jan 2020 as soon as covid announced (like Taiwan did)
  
• masks everywhere and domestic production

[blackpeonies]

• from feb, testing and wristband quarantine for all arrivals from overseas - like at hk expo centre

[blackpeonies]

I think not mislead and lie

[frozendaisy]

As PM I would have tried not to catch it myself at a critical moment when leadership was required!

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Put a woman in charge. That seems to be the magical thing to do.

[blackpeonies]

What @terry said. At least 50% women in all decision making positions.

[Imnotcalledlola]

It’s tricky because at the point a stricter lockdown would have been more effective the public attitude wasn’t ready for it. Even 2 weeks before the schools closed many people were still saying there was nothing to worry about.
They should have shut the borders and relentlessly pursued contact tracing before February half term. The economic hit would have been massive but Hopefully not as long lasting as the damage they have done

[APurpleSquirrel]

As soon as the virus was found to be in Europe (Italy & Spain) to have started quarantining everyone entering the country for mandatory 2 wks, & track & trace. Gone into lockdown in February. Not shaken the hands of people with COVID.

[blackpeonies]

@iamnot is right about public opinion, but I think this was mainly due to the authorities saying carry on gadding around, shaking hands (so long as you wash your own). It’s like they were prepared for a totally different disease.

[MyBubblesBurst]

Not pissing around with Brexit in February and ignoring the advice of scientific advisors regarding a new virus in Asia

Stop flights immediately from affected areas- early February

Ramp up testing, not abandoning it

Not discharging elderly to care homes with no testing in place

Not lifting lockdown when we are still at Level 4, no proper test and trace in place, still high infection rate

[MyBubblesBurst]

and they say they didnt see it coming, I was buying facemasks in January, I was so worried and I am no expert, just an ordinary member of the public. Once the pictures from Italy starting coming in, I started to get REALLY scared.

Our Gov have failed us terribly and I think once this is over, they should be held accountable and face criminal charges.

[HonchoHead]

Turned on the TV and watched what was happening in China and Italy and learned from them like most sane government's did instead of adopting the attitude that we know better than others.

[itsgettingweird]

Much more awareness and communication about the reality of a pandemic before it became a very real situation.

I remember things closing and I was still thinking but people can wash hands etc. I have to be honest I didn't realise how big and bad a scale it would get to.

I'm now much more clued up - own reading rather than government. I'm one of those who realises lockdown wasn't a magical cure and without continuous measures we will get back to dire straits.

If I was in government now I would invest heavily in a better system of preparedness for any pandemic (flu, coronavirus or letter). I would be ensuring track and trace was always ready to put in place. I'd have taxi firms trained, prepped and prepared for being like Germany's Covid taxis. I'd have medical staffed trained and ready to redeploy to work on this system. So taxi driver and 1 medic.

I'd make sure public are given much more visual, clear and concise information (eg like the r rate video) right from the beginning.

I'd make sure I explained my decisions, was clear I was basing them on various models and reports and would change them if necessary. I would make it clear there will always be people it doesn't work as well for than others - but explain as a a national effort it's the way it needs to be short term for the best national outcome.

And I'd make it damn clear that ANYONE working within parliament during the pandemic who is found to break any guideline or rule is out. That's it.
I would lead the nation by example.

[FliesandPies]

For a start not lied to people, as Bozo did, that the UK was totally prepared - better prepared than most other countries - for a pandemic.

Shut down most air travel and quarantined any people coming in
Instructed all vulnerable people to isolate at home in Feb
Prepared care homes for the impact of covid
Set to work on testing and tracking in Feb
PM not to put himself at unnecessary risk of catching CV
etc etc

[KittCat]

not lied
,this

[Laaf80]

I would have started by dusting off the Cygnus report to follow its recommendations, then held round tables of experts and listened to them.

As others have said, I would have instructed experts to liaise with countries that had successful contained the virus for ideas/plans.

I wouldn’t have shakes hands, I wouldn’t have gone on the missing list. I would have kept my clear message of ‘stay home’ and not switched to ‘stay alert’ to save one man’s job.

[Laaf80]

Urgh, why didn’t I proof read that post. Sorry for the grammar/poor sentence structure.

[Mittens030869]

Well, I wouldn't have lied about it, that's the biggest thing they did wrong.

Also the lack of preparedness whilst they were arguing over Brexit was ridiculous. The frontline workers were left with an unforgivable lack of PPE and they kept lying about it.

And I wouldn't have stopped testing and contact tracing.

[tabulahrasa]

“It’s tricky because at the point a stricter lockdown would have been more effective the public attitude wasn’t ready for it. Even 2 weeks before the schools closed many people were still saying there was nothing to worry about.”

To be fair though, that’s because the message they were putting out was that it was nothing to worry about.

[greenlynx]

I would be on ramping up testing and PPE stocks from 21st of January.
Lockdown earlier at least 1 week, but my personal preference is 2 weeks.
Restrictions on international travel in March.
Tracing contacts.
Checking stocks of food and medicines, and also hand gel and soaps.

Actually it’s what our family did: we checked everything and did a small stock of food, medicines, soap, gloves and masks. Not a big one, but it helped us a lot during the lockdown. We also cut all nonessential “travel “ like wondering around shops and cafes since end of February and increased hygiene measures. PM was shaking hands with people in a hospital in March. Unbelievable!

[Larkspurandhollyhocks]

I wouldn’t have shakes hands, I wouldn’t have gone on the missing list. I would have kept my clear message of ‘stay home’ and not switched to ‘stay alert’ to save one man’s job.

Hear, hear. So much on this thread is spot on.

[PollyPolson]

Lockdown earlier
Recognise the importance of track and trace
Communicate clearly to everyone of what to do and why

[BackInTime]

Taken it as a serious crisis from the outset, planned and prepared accordingly, watched other countries closely and learned from what was happening there to prepare and protect the public.

Basically not just to think that being British was going to protect us from the virus

[Mittens030869]

They didn't wake up quickly enough to the fact that it had stopped being an illness that could only be caught in an 'infected area overseas'. When my DD2 (8) had symptoms in early March, we were asked whether we'd been overseas, then when we said we hadn't, we were told to take her to A&E, where the clinicians had no PPE. No test at all, we were told it couldn't be COVID-19 as we hadn't been overseas. Her symptoms were high temperature, chest pain and bad headache.

I'd had symptoms for a couple of weeks before that and had been told that it couldn't possibly be COVID-19. We weren't told to self-isolate at that stage, and there were plenty of others in the same boat.

It's maddening. It's no wonder that there have been so many deaths.

[JKC59]

I wouldn't have 'locked down' at all 🤷‍♀️