To think the Government have done a reasonable job of handling this pandemic?

[EmbarrassedButIAdmitIt]

I’ve actually just voted Conservative in my local elections because of it . Not for Boris I might add who I cannot stand but the people actually doing the work behind him.

Considering we have not had a worldwide pandemic in over a hundred years, and the world has changed beyond recognition in terms of people movement since then, obviously it has been a massive learning curve, but I think on the whole we have been pretty well looked after with furlough, self employed support. top up benefits, vaccine production and rollout, etc.

I know there’s been ‘jobs for the boys’ but I don’t think any other political party would have been any different sadly.

We have had a higher death rate than other European countries but TBF we are a small overcrowded island populated by people who don’t like following rules and are stupid enough to believe hysterical conspiracy theories.

I am so grateful that I live in the UK and not somewhere like India, Brazil or even the US.

So AIBU?

No, I think they have done a good job with vaccines - massively helped by the NHS which they would wish to dismantle. So those who voted Conservative have voted for a party that wants to dismantle the very institution that has helped so much to get us out of this mess.

I think the government did an absolutely terrible job with pretty much everything else.

Please don't just gloss over the fact that over 120,000 British citizens have died.

Germany is behind on vaccines - but with only two-thirds the deaths. Same for Spain.

The UK has not covered itself in glory, it has made some terrible mistakes with very tragic consequences. But people will be keen to move on so Johnson may well get away with it.

@tttigress

I actually normally vote conservative, but the way they have handled this pandemic makes me never want to vote Tory again.

After the first few weeks, once it was realised that we weren't dealing with Ebola, we should have balance the rights of both young and old people.

A lot of young and middle aged people have really had to suffer due to excessive lockdowns.

I think in the case of some young people their whole life will go in a different (worse) direction due to excessive lockdowns.

but this is an example of how the government can’t do right or wrong.

should have lockdown down faster and harder

-v-

locked down excessively

@Confusedaboutlots

Actually - both groups would have been happier if we had locked down earlier and harder, as we wouldn;t have had to lock down for so long and would have avoided many deaths. So the lockdowns wouldn;t have been excessive - it was necessary to have such a long lockdown from January because of the failure to do it promptly in Sept/Oct.

@CarrieAntoinette

"Found themselves in a pandemic"

We watched it coming for ten or eleven weeks, tutting over the terrible situation in first China, then Italy.

We saw their hazmat suits and the nurses crying over people dying for lack of oxygen or hospital beds.

Then in March our government told us to carry on as normal and just wash our hands.

Precisely! I lived in China at the start of the pandemic and watched the uk sit and watch and then watch a bit more as the virus spread. It was an absolute farce.

Agree I was screaming at the government for ages before they noticed that we might need to do something and then when they did notice they thought washing our hands would be all we needed to do to not catch a respiratory virus

They were cautious to act because they didn't want the public to panic.

Introducing a tier system and allowing movement between tiers, is. It being cautious, it’s being stupid.

Is not being cautious.

Those who think they were too late do you think the timing was right for the North?

As cases rose there after it was lifted

How would you have done lockdown differently?

They prioritised the economy and money over people. They saw what was happening in Italy and sat and watched rather than taking action until too late. Everyone and their granny was saying we should have locked down sooner but they held off, the same with closing the borders. And don’t even get me started on the money going to their cronies for contracts.

As a few people have already said. We need to expect more from our government, people seem to have very low standards.

'I lived in China at the start of the pandemic and watched the uk sit and watch and then watch a bit more as the virus spread.It was an absolute farce.'

'Watch a bit more' 🙄. They followed the advice of epidemiologists and virologjsts, not mumsnetters who used to live in China, thank god. Massive resources were chucked at the nhs to manage the inevitable surge.

Lockdown had to be at the right time as longterm compliance was always going to be a problem. We were a couple of weeks behind Italy and locked down at the same stage they did.

'They prioritised the economy and money over people'

Livelihoods and health were prioritised..

I can't quite believe how China seem to have got off scot free. They should be chucking billions at the rest of the world instead of charging us for their ppe and tests, kerrching! They're certainly exploiting the situation.

@Kazzyhoward

And Boris won't be forgiven by Uni students who the Tories have consistently ignored throughout. Uni's have conned students into signing contracts for courses and accommodation without telling them the truth about how little teaching would be in person. The Govt have completely forgotten about Uni students more recently when they re-opened schools but didn't say a single word about Unis.

This is a joke right.........

We have free will and individual responsibility in this country .....

Anyone who signed up to a course did so largely in the knowledge a pandemic appeared out of nowhere, parents packed off Uni students with this knowledge and booked accommodation with this knowledge now it is unfortunate that a lot have been caught out. With regard to opening them up...the gov has followed advice....

You cannot blame a government for every little thing that happens....

My uni student has benefitted by being able to work and not having to travel to Uni. We didn't do accommodation cos we saw what was on the horizon. As it is my ds has managed to save quite a bit that he wouldn't have been able to do.

A lot of his uni friends took a year out or cancelled accommodation and got refunds.

Stop painting a one-sided view.
Our young and old people have suffered the most but now I hope they will benefit from opening up and a robust, bounce-back economy....

The day Johnson told us pubs were staying open but he advised us not to go (is the man an actual idiot? Yes, yes he is), if he had locked down that many thousands of lives would have been saved. He had been advised to lock down and did not.

@JaniieJones

'I lived in China at the start of the pandemic and watched the uk sit and watch and then watch a bit more as the virus spread.It was an absolute farce.'

'Watch a bit more' 🙄. They followed the advice of epidemiologists and virologjsts, not mumsnetters who used to live in China, thank god. Massive resources were chucked at the nhs to manage the inevitable surge.

Lockdown had to be at the right time as longterm compliance was always going to be a problem. We were a couple of weeks behind Italy and locked down at the same stage they did.

China followed pandemic 101 -isolate -test

• trace contacts

the UK isolated people, did not test sufficiently and failed to trace contacts - what exactly should I be watching? A govt that dithered and then adopted the same procedures as other counties (quarantine) but much, much later. A govt that allowed movement between tiers, a govt that said that schools were safe and the 8 hours later they weren’t safe, a govt that mandated home isolation for arrivals from overseas but allowed individuals to use public transport to travel to their homes in order to self isolate...?

If only China had not started the second pandemic. Or stopped it getting out. So not quite 101

A gov that followed the advice of epidemiologists and virologists shanghai?

Do we really believe the numbers from China anyway

'the UK isolated people, did not test sufficiently and failed to trace contacts'

They built a massive testing system from a standing start in months.

Don't you think China should be providing testing and ppe free to the rest of the word as some kind of goodwill gesture?

@StoneofDestiny

He's done a crap job. He did not shut down early enough - allowing nonsense like Cheltenham Races to go ahead when European areas were shutting down. We are an Island nation and it would have been so easy to secure our borders. No point comparing us to places like India - a country corrupt and chaotic in normal circumstances. Compare us to New Zealand or Australia - they shut down and save lives.

Nothing Johnson has done has been 'a good job'. He doesn't deserve to be our PM - we deserve much better.

Yep, this.

Boris didn't attend the COBRA meetings. They'd let the PPE stockpile dwindle. The kept the borders open and allowed massive events, even though the virus was here and they could see what was happening in Italy. The WHO said testing was key but the government stopped testing people outside of hospitals. They locked down late and it cost thousands of lives and extended the length of lockdown needed. I live in London commuting belt and those who could started isolating well before the government closed everything down.

They sunk billions into test and trace and it never worked well, it had a very limited impact.

The number one reason for people not to engage with test trace and isolate was financial loss, yet they never addressed this.

They threatened schools with legal action before Christmas when they felt it was too dangerous to stay open in parts of London, opened them for a day after the break before finally admitting it was in fact too dangerous - that day would have cost many lives.

Even now they are ignoring science in favour of what they feel plays best with their voters, SAGE recommends that secondary schools keep masks in classrooms until at least June, but Williamson announced today they will ditch them on the 17th.

I honestly can't understand why anyone would vote for them.

We've got the full fall out from Brexit to look forward too.

Sunak's plan for economic recovery? People will spend the money they've saved over lockdown. We should be investing heavily in green technology and industries.

The public won't forget how well the Tories have done, even if they might have made a mistake or two.

@JaniieJones

A gov that followed the advice of epidemiologists and virologists shanghai?

Do we really believe the numbers from China anyway

I believe what I saw in China when I lived there at the outbreak of the pandemic and I believe what is happening now in the city I lived in for 12 years. Parties and group events Sports competitors between school All students back at school by June of last year Restaurants open, bars open, tourist sites open, shops open

Astonished that people STILL vote Tory, frankly.

'Astonished that people STILL vote Tory, frankly.'

Yes I'm sure forensic Starmer and his rag tag band of misfits would've done a much better job. Not.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record we are 4 nations, Wales, Scotland and NI have had similar stats, it was a pandemic you see. Look at Europe! It wasn't just us.

How would you have done lockdown differently?

Well, I remember my friends in London still being allowed to attend a mass concert in mid March, whereas I’d been at home for over a week with everything closed, including my work (mainland Europe for reference). The UK locked down late.

It also took them several months to develop and test and trace system, to introduce compulsory testing and quarantine for incoming travellers, they adopted no measures in schools, and at the same time destroyed businesses by making them stay shut instead of giving them the resources to make it safe to return to work. Sunak’s recovery strategy was ‘rethink, reboot, retrain’ or something like that - which for all those industries they didn’t support at all, meant the government did not even value their work and thought the solution was to change careers and find another job. Compare that to almost every other country in Europe, where those workers were supported and the government actually invested money in businesses so they didn’t need to stay closed for so long.