To be very concerned that Boris Johnson said this

[Worriedmum54321]

From the Guardian:
Responding to the argument that a more stringent lockdown should have been imposed sooner, he said: “Don’t forget, it’s a very very demanding thing to ask a population to do – very tough – and so I think it was completely right to make our period of lockdown coincide as far as possible with the peak of the epidemic.”

Aren't the government acting on scientific advice though? So really, it's the scientists fault.

@MeganBacon unfortunately the NHS has only avoided being overwhelmed by getting rid of most of their normal workload, people who are now having treatment and diagnosis delayed, and many of whom will now suffer or die as a result. I am not sure that really counts as not being overwhelmed! Really we would need the NHS to have spare capacity for covid on top of enough capacity to avoid cancelling any urgent treatment for other things

Aren't the government acting on scientific advice though?
No. It is largely a political decision.

Also took advice from statisticians tbh.

Um, no. They have had 24,543 deaths and we have had 26,771 so far according to both countries' official figures.

Um, yes.

Spain and Italy only count hospital deaths. Our number of 26,771 includes hospitals and care homes.

Spain population is 47mm vs 67mm in the UK.

Perhaps the government should have ignored the scientific brains and asked MN as they obviously have all the answers Do you honestly believe that with a pandemic all the scientists would have said Cheltenham was a great idea, that the Stereophonics concert was a good idea, that the Spanish fans flying over to watch a football match in Liverpool was fine although they couldn't have a football match at home, or that it was a great idea to get all the dog lovers together at Crufts. Don't you think it is amazing that the Premiership cancelled matches the weekend of the 14th March when the govt didn't have the guts or the sense (who knows which) to do it?

I wonder how much virus was spread at those events, hundreds of thousands of people mixing close together. Can you imagine the horror now if someone suggested anything like those events.

We knew it was a pandemic, we knew it was spreading, we knew it was killing.

@polobelt

Haha! Well done. Excellent argument you made there.

Everyone shush. Ignore those teams of highly educated experienced researchers and field leaders advising the government, Susan from Number 12 has it solved

I wonder what the difference would have been if we had lockdowned a week or 2 earlier.

I remember when the schools closed.
I can't remember if the big lockdown was later.

The Government says it was following the science about those big events.

I wonder if that's true.

worriedmum, yes that's true I suppose but as far as COVID19 deaths are concerned, my point is that no-one died because no beds were available. Yes tragically people are dying of other things instead - but I'm hearing hospitals are empty so that excess capacity now needs to be utilised to save non-COVID lives.

Lockdown was on the Monday after schools closed iirc

Spain aren't recording care home deaths so their total will be even higher. Care homes here were always going to be hit hard as we have so many of them. A lot of other countries look after their elderly relatives themselves.

@rosie1959

Perhaps the government should have ignored the scientific brains and asked MN as they obviously have all the answers

Or they could have listened to the scientists the other countries listened to, instead of picking the ones that suited their 'economy over lives' thinking.

I wonder if it would have made a difference to have a strict lockdown like in Spain or Italy.

aren't the government acting on scientific advice though? So really, it's the scientists fault

That is probably the way it will go, yes...

@Sparticuscaticus
What issue have I failed to grasp? Nothing wrong with discussion even if people don't have all the answers.

I'm an epidemiologist so not completely clueless. By the way, anyone who thinks that there is one right course of action shown by "the science" clearly is not a scientist. Scientists can provide information but decisions have to be made by politicians.

Spain and Italy only count hospital deaths. Our number of 26,771 includes hospitals and care homes. Since yesterday and only if they were tested, there will be many deaths in care homes where there was no test.

In France they include care home deaths.

In Belgium they include all deaths that might be covid related which is why their figures look so bad.

Taiwan have dealt with coronaviruses before as have China and both locked down hard and fast

@worriedmum It is a pity with all your experience in epidemiology they didn't have you on the advisory board.

I thought exactly the same as you OP when I read the quote and briefly considered posting but couldn’t be bothered to argue the point. As it turns out he can say pile of illogical stuff he wants and there will still be people who believe him.

If anyone wants to see what happens when you lockdown early look at Greece. Schools closed before there was even a single fatality. They have 140 deaths now and thinking of relaxing the lockdown.

Or did measures to contain fast

By the way, anyone who thinks that there is one right course of action shown by "the science" clearly is not a scientist. Scientists can provide information but decisions have to be made by politicians. Brian Cox was saying this on TV earlier this week. I think is it pretty obvious that with something unknown, like this corona virus, there will be various opinions. Obviously the govt chose the bits of information they liked. That isn't rocket science.

@polobelt

Seriously, so rude. The buffoon got this wrong. He fucked up. Let's look at Germany as an example? Comparable enough for you?

chomalungma

I can't help but wonder what your agenda is?

It is a pity with all your experience in epidemiology they didn't have you on the advisory board. Well one things for sure, she couldn't have made a worse job of it.