To be flabbergasted by this Government’s incompetence.

[Cam77]

*2000 of 500,000 NHS staff tested.
*Germany performing nearly TEN TIMES the number of tests as the UK. despite the WHO saying for weeks and weeks that they key is to “test test test”
*Continuing shortages of basic PPE for health workers (who are being threatened if they speak out)
*Thousands of people still cramming on to public transport, with not one metre let alone 2 metre distance.
*The Government failing to sign up to the EU ventilator scheme.
*Being one of the last Western countries to close schools and implement any kind of lockdown.

I know it’s tough for everyone but this is a level of criminal negligence from the British government. Absolutely shocking.

I do have some sympathy on the lockdown decision. It is no small thing to shut down one of the world's biggest economies, a regional and global hub. And even experts say if you do it too soon it is not sustainable for long enough, people will not stay indoors forever (absent authoritarian enforcement as in China).

But the lack of testing and PPE, the confusing messages given out, not engaging enough with the private sector who have the capacity to help, not coordinating with EU bodies -- that is just incompetence and poor leadership. You can't blame the experts for that.

Ah - makes sense now. Youre a labour supporter and this is a conservative bashing thread? Got ya 👍🏻.

I'd like to see you doing better.

@Baaaahhhhh

how is not getting ventilators 'doing the best they can

Well they seem to have 4,000 of them in the Nightingale, a hospital built in a week.

They don’t. They have the capacity for 4,000 ventilators at the Nightingale. They currently have 500 and it’s unclear where the other 3,500 are coming from or when. Or indeed the doctors and nurses to look after 4000 critical care patients. Or the PPE for those doctors and nurses.

We have been in lockdown for less than two weeks and traffic levels have started to rise. How long do people think a lockdown can be sustained absent the sort of authoritarian measures that would terrify most of us.

It's puzzling why anyone would consider Boris Johnson a fool:

Just because Johnson chose to completely ignore WHO advice and shake hands with everybody, including those suffering from the corona virus doesn't mean he didn't take the issue seriously. It's not his fault that many followed his example leading to thousands numbers dying with the virus.

The one thing they did say that but many other countries didn’t is that lock down would not be a short fix. That they had to hold off because it will be hard and for a length of time.

Other countries who did it earlier will extend or will go back to an earlier second peak.

@Blossomad and just a thought - it’s probably much easier for a small company to source a small amount of PPE than to to come up with hundreds of thousands in the same time frame.

Yes we are a national laughing stock internationally, either that or people feel sorry for us.

Oh I don't think they're laughing. They stopped doing that some time during the Brexit fiasco. It's eyeball rolling despair.

Imagine you had a yearly appraisal with your boss and she said

"honestly you're not doing the job to the standard we would like, things need to improve"

and your response was

"Hey, at least we can be grateful that Dave from Marketing isn't doing my job? Am I right? That's gotta be some comfort in this awful time!"

You cant conjure this stuff out of thin air,.

I was not a supporter of austerity at all, but I cant help thinking that its because of saving money for the last 10 years that we have some slack to spend the money we need now?

We were far too late to lock down. And allowing Cheltenham and football matches to go ahead was crazy.
But it is all about the great God of money. There is little humanity left in this world.

Cheltenham etc was a mistake but disagree on timing.

@BillywilliamV It is because of austerity that we have zero slack in the system. Austerity stopped us stockpiling PPE as recommended.

because of saving money for the last 10 years that we have some slack to spend the money we need now?

We don’t have any slack, everything that’s being spent now is being borrowed and will have to be paid back.

Who are all these laughing countries. They have their own bad times to deal with. And if they haven’t yet they will.

Bar post-SARS countries, but you only have to look at the thread with people aghast at more powers to govt to see their approaches would go down like a lead balloon here.

oldbeforem

@Blossomad and just a thought - it’s probably much easier for a small company to source a small amount of PPE than to to come up with hundreds of thousands in the same time frame.///

Except this govt ran a pandemic simulation in 2016 and were advised to prepare by investing in PPE which they decided not to. They then wait until AFTER private companies respond to the threat to act? I also know many people who were working from home/ preparing by buying PPE/ food and on lockdown before the govt. They work in finance/information marketing and IT.

'we are where we are' & the current colour of the Govt is irrelevant but
4 things leap out at me:

1. lack of testing 2,000 of 500,000 NHS staff is criminally negligent

1. lack of PPE - compared to other countries it's a 'sick' (literally) joke

1. lack of ventilators ordered. A huge 'war game' pandemic scenario was commissioned by Govt at £££ 3 years ago and then ignored

1. the (initial, now changed) guidance in the Covid19 Act re disabled people, including those with autism and learning disabilities - just vile

@alloutoffucks agreed - they should have been banned and as they weren’t, people should have been smart enough not to go.

@TheSandman Sadly, we voted for Brexit. The governments biggest mistake was thinking the UK was smart enough to decide themselves.

I don’t think we are a laughing stock. I’m certainly not laughing at Italy or the US for suffering worse than we are right now.

As PP have said, no country in the world will come out the other side having made no mistakes.

@TellLucyILoveHer but does Dave in marketing criticise your every move? When he actually has no clue about how to do a better job?

My friend is a nurse. They're still struggling not getting enough PPE. The staff were in tears recently as a covid patient had a heart attack. As they didn't have PPE they were not allowed to attempt resuscitation. So lack of PPE has already cost lives.

Office workers are still not being allowed to work from home. DWP is one of the main employers who are not allowing their employees to work from home.

So while I agree they've done some things right, there are key areas they need to do better.

Oh, and also even though my friend's hospital isn't packed with covid patients yet (they're expecting a surge soon) they already don't have enough oxygen machines to go around. They're having to triage patients and decide who to treat and who not to treat.

OldBe exactly

@Blossomad

That’s pretty terrible then re PPE.

I think the lack of instruction to WFH / lock down was to preserve the economy for as long as possible. As just over one week it, it’s decimated.

The Government failing to sign up to the EU ventilator scheme.

Erm.... we left the EU.... unfortunately

Yanbu. I'm not in the UK and our cases are not anywhere close to the uk but our country is on a strict lockdown.
You need a letter to leave your home. The army is out patrolling.
Shocking that the UK is treating this so casually. Our Airports are shut down. Why are people still travelling out of UK airports.
The schools took so long to close.
No gatherings of more than 5 people , all weddings, funerals etc affected.
All divorced parents have to decide which one the kids will be staying with for the entire lockdown.
We are dealing with this so severely yet the UK has been dancing around waiting to see.