AIBU to think that the govnt don't care about the testing issues and may even be secretly happy about them??

[Notthemessiah]

The govnt have made it clear that their priority is to keep people in work and kids in schools at any expense.

With testing being such a shambles and less and less people able to get any results, let alone quick ones, people with symptoms (or who have kids who have symptoms) will likely fall into two groups:

1. Those who can work from home. They may choose to self isolate just in case, but remain productive = Govnt win
2. Those who can't work from home or whose employer won't let them do so or take time off without a positive test result, who will go into work anyway (and send their kids into school) and therefore remain productive = Govnt win

If the testing system was working OK, group 2 would have to take 14 days off work and employers would have no choice but to let them. Productivity and economic activity would go down = Govnt lose.

Or is this just a case of 'never ascribe to maliciousness what can more easily be explained by incompetence'?

Or is this just a case of 'never ascribe to maliciousness what can more easily be explained by incompetence'?

I think it's that.

Option 2 leads to second peak, during the winter virus season, and that a 'win' for absolutely no-one

Option 2 leads to second peak, during the winter virus season, and that a 'win' for absolutely no-one

I think they believe the NHS can handle it and that it's better for more people to get it now - the old herd immunity but in a vaguely controlled manner.

Whilst your first theory is tempting, unfortunately I think it is just incompetence. I'd almost rather it was malice, in some respects that's easier to deal with than stupidity.

YANBU Them and their mates companies are getting paid to do them. Whether they deliver or not is irrelevant, so long as the money keep rolling in.

A track and trace system that works is what keeps schools and businesses running, not this shambles.

No I don’t think they are happy about it, I think behind the scenes they may well be panicking.

I worked on the testing programme for DHSC for the first few months while it was being set up, and honestly it’s just really difficult. Countries like Germany already had a large diagnostics industry with loads of additional capacity in labs. We did not have that and are having to build it up from the bottom up. You can’t magic up the reagents, swabs, machinery and specialist staff to run the PCR overnight it takes time.

Don’t forget, this is run by civil servants not government ministers, they are doing their absolute best to make the system work and ministers have not been stingy with the purse strings.

Thanks for that insight @Rhayader

However, even if it was not on purpose, I bet some people in power are pleased that the county does not know the true number right now, which must be higher than the official statistics, as so many people can't get a test.

Now, now you really ought to stop carping on and moaning, don’t you know that those losing their jobs and homes are part of an overwhelming success? So that utter twit Rees-Mogg has said anyway.

I remember when he first hit the public scene and people started mocking his mannerisms. I actually defended the bugger at first, despite never being a Tory. More fool me, the man is an obnoxious rich elitist moron of the highest order. They just have no idea of how ordinary people live.