Our government has dealt with the Coronacrisis so badly.

[pontypridd]

Did we even need to lockdown?

Newsnight suggests that it wasn't necessary.

Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad had the lockdown been managed well. But now millions of people in this country will have their lives ruined. Millions will lose their lives as a result of this mismanaged lockdown.

We are coming out of this now with more mixed messages and confusion. People are taking it upon themselves to decide to end lockdown - as the government, once again, fails to take the lead.

I feels afraid and scared to live here. I don't trust that our government will ever know what they are doing or be able to protect us.

I think the Govt should have stopped all flights from Wuhan and those returning from Northern Italy should have been mandatorily quarantined. We should have taken extreme measures at the time. When there were very few people known to have covid, that was the time to track and trace.
However, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I think many Govts have made mistakes. I also think any party that was in govt at the time would have been slow to begin with, partly because the scenario of what would happen when covid arrived here was unimaginable and partly because as a nation our citizens enjoy their freedom and wouldn't want to relinquish it.

Some people would have been up in arms, not literally, if the Govt had locked down much earlier. (It is obviously much easier to do in China and other dictatorships). Many any are moaning now that it hasn't achieved much. I think we should recognise it must be extremely difficult to get it right.

We were on the back foot but I think the Govt have since made supreme efforts to contain this. I was impressed and gobsmacked by the financial help packages available to so many in the population. They are over and above what I expected from a Tory Govt.

We are getting daily 1-hour news briefings and the opportunity to ask questions of the govt and their scientific advisors. Ministers often ask if journalists want to come back following their answers. That's impressive.

I think it's bloody easy to criticise govts. It's a unimaginable situation. They are pulling out all the stops now and that is what matters.

partly because the scenario of what would happen when covid arrived here was unimaginable and partly because as a nation our citizens enjoy their freedom and wouldn't want to relinquish it.
It wasn’t unimaginable. We could see what was happening in other countries, and we knew what was going to happen in January. The Italians, Spanish, Australians, etc, also enjoy their freedom and didn’t want to relinquish it, but they did.

I think it's bloody easy to criticise govts. It's a unimaginable situation. They are pulling out all the stops now and that is what matters.

Really? Do the tens of thousands of people who have already died not matter?

Don't they deserve some justice for dying from something which could have been stopped by a better government?

would you care to point out one good decision made by the government regarding this crisis?
It's not about good Vs bad decision. Decisions had to be made in an unprecedented time. I'll return the question, what terrible decision was taken and which one should have been taken that would have been so right, it would have been devote of any potential criticism?

Do the tens of thousands of people who have already died not matter?
People die every day and many are preventable deaths. Do you blame the government for these too? What decision should have been taken that would have without fault prevented those deaths?

People die every day and many are preventable deaths. Do you blame the government for these too? What decision should have been taken that would have without fault prevented those deaths?

Locking down properly and earlier. It's not rocket science - the virus was in Europe and travelling towards us. We're on an island, we can control who comes in by air and sea.

Of course we needed to lock down. The death rate would be much higher if we didn't. This is a world wide virus. At least our government has acted, some haven't and I certainly do not believe the figures coming out of some other countries.
Everyone is so negative, including the bloody press, calling for any end to lockdown weeks ago started the ball rolling and now that's all you hear about.
Negativity drags people down. We need to follow the advice Stay Home Save Lives. This message is clear. The government cannot protect you, you need to do that yourself by following the advice. Crystal clear!

@dontdisturbmenow People are claiming the government have done a great job so how are they coming to that conclusion? It’s quite easy to say the Government have done a terrible job because of the highest death toll in Europe.

They made a big mistake in not locking down a week earlier, death rate would be about 1/4 of now.

After that I think they also made a mistake of not being totally clear about rules and not encouraging them to be properly enforced.

Clearly the way we get and handle data is a disaster, but suspect that has been case for years.

Other than that, we are the same as everyone else, learning as we go.

The government has been a disgrace. We had weeks to prepare, weeks when China and then, in Europe, Spain and Italy were being hit hard. What happened? Nothing much. Cheltenham went ahead, Boris Johnson went around shaking hands and it was somehow decided that 20,000 people dying would represent success of some sort.

And when the penny finally dropped that sound bites and bulldog spirit wouldn’t keep this thing at bay, and there was a rush to open Nightingale hospitals, care homes were largely ignored and abandoned.

We’re an island for pity sake, we should have been better prepared and better protected. This government has failed the UK and continues to do so with sound bites and mixed messages rather than anything approaching strong leadership.

They should have been testing, tracing and quarantining since January.
They should have sorted PPE in January.
They dithered and minimised for far too long. All those HCPs and care workers need not have died.

If only the government had gone on to mumsnet, so many experts who knew exactly what to do without the benefit of hindsight...

There a lee hundreds of threads like this why not just comment on one of them
We kicked down I believe one day after Germany but apparently we were weeks late in doing so
Time will tell who got it right you can't compare yet as if there is no vaccine other countries may have it worse later we just don't know

2 main factors: 1) borders should have been closed and need to be closed (but this is so so tricky for London as a hub so I understand why we did not do it early enough)
2) I do not like the slogan "protect our NHS and save lives". In other countries people are encouraged to go and seek medical help as early as possible. It was clear from the outset from certain data that early oxygen and certain meds might help. We have been told to sit at home until late stage. I do not think this is the right approach.

knew exactly what to do without the benefit of hindsight...
There is no hindsight. We had foresight! We had a huge advantage.

The who also advised not to close borders

We may have the worst death rate in Europe. Great negative reporting again but this is not the end of this. Other countries will fair much worse in the long run. Also the UK population is much higher than Spain and Italy. So there are many many factors to include, but yes yes everyone thinks we are rubbish, embarrassing, the U.K. government is shit. They've by no way done a Stirling job,
At least they're trying and I would rather be here than in some countries where the government didn't give a shit.

Ahardknocklife
How do you plan for this
We have a government who wants chaos because people like JRM make billions out of chaos
We had a pandemic task force. That was planning. It was disbanded as part of austerity
In 2016 a group carried out a pandemic scenario to see what would happen. They predicted what is happening now and came up with a plan to avoid disaster. It was put on the bank burner thanks to brexit
We were supposed to have supplies of PPE but the amount believed to be stored were not correct
Scientists have been predicting a pandemic and saying, for the last 10 years, it is overdue. It is the government's job to plan. It blows my mind that anyone can defend them
They delayed orders so they could be given to party donors. Look at James Dyson and the ventilator fiasco
The tracking and tracing app. We haven't gone with the rest of the EU. Instead Cummings mate, vote leave remember, has got the contract
When will people wake up

Also how can people say it was obvious in January where this was going , no it wasn't even the WHO didn't know then it was barely emerging
Next time we should scrap Chris Whitty and the WHO and anything like that and consult MN it's full of armchair experts who seem to know exactly what should of been done and when

@daisypond no we could not see what was going to happen in January at all , the WHO were not advising it was a pandemic at this time at all please go and check the timeline
We were only aware of it in China in beginning of january , nobody knew in January where this was going

"Did we even need to lockdown?"

"Newsnight suggests that it wasn't necessary."
Who is Newsnight? Do you mean someone on the programme said this? 2 people? 3 people? What are their qualifications for suggesting this? The Govt have a team of around 50 scientific advisors and they probably each have a team of people under them with a scientific background.

"But now millions of people in this country will have their lives ruined."
Millions "will" have their lives ruined. Really? You don't even say why. Millions of people are receiving a great deal deal of financial help, courtesy of the govt helping their employers, the self-employed and businesses.

"Millions will lose their lives as a result of this mismanaged lockdown."
What? So far the official figures are around 30,000 (which is utterly tragic) but I don't know how you imagine that millions of us in the UK are going to die. Lockdown will have prevented the deaths from being much higher.

'We are coming out of this now with more mixed messages and confusion."
Are we coming out of this now? Didn't the briefing say that nothing is unchanged at the moment? Their message has been clear and unchanged from the start of lockdown. The Govt are not giving mixed messages. You may be getting confused through listening to unqualified people and commentaries.

"People are taking it upon themselves to decide to end lockdown - as the government, once again, fails to take the lead."
The Govt are telling us, as they have from the start, precisely what the restrictions on us are. The police can fine people for not following the legal ones. Polls consistently show most of the population don't want restrictions lifted yet. There may be a small minority of idiots who don't comply but there will always be rebels.

"I feels afraid and scared to live here. I don't trust that our government will ever know what they are doing or be able to protect us."
You do sound as if you are over-anxious and I wonder if it would help you to speak to your GP about how you are feeling? It is a worrying time for everyone but if you live by the official guidelines you will have the best chance of not contracting the virus. If you can make or buy yourself a mask and some KN95 filters to put inside it, that might make you feel more safe.

In my opinion it's because we are a capitalist country, it's the 'every man for himself' 'sink or swim' mentality. This government don't care about the vulnerable.

Boris was hoping we wouldn't have to disrupt businesses, that's why he was reluctant to lock down. Ultimately that's all that anyone cares about in this country.

It doesn’t matter when the WHO officially announced it as a pandemic. The fact is, it clearly was before they announced it. And as PP have said, we had a pandemic preparation report in 2016 - so four years to see where our weak points were and to get systems in place.

*@daisypond *

There is no hindsight. We had foresight! We had a huge advantage.

Great! Care to post yours or anyone else on here advice from when this all started then?