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?

How did they know this before the strong evidence of it being airborne and in closed spaces appeared?

Common sense.

I see the Tory propaganda bots are out in force tonight.

Are you the same ones who work the daily mail comments section too? I’ve noticed how any pro boris statement on there gets posted by random overseas usernames and then 100 likes no more no less (are there a 100 of you?)

The letting school kids back for one day then closing schools was unforgivable. So disruptive for the kids and risky for everyone to allow one day of mixing for no reason.

@MarshaBradyo

Timing needs numbers though not just dates and take into account North / South difference. As some criticism came that lock down followed London timing and not North.

And people also criticise tiers so you need a solution for that.

It’s interesting that people talk about Ardern being early but it was around the same time. Just far earlier on the pandemic curve.

Weird, wasn't it. It actually was the other way round. London was left unprotected. Only when Covid started spreading elsewhere did lockdown happen. And the same again, with the second lockdown. We'll see a repeat with any third wave. If it only affects London, no one will care and nothing much will be done. Only if it looks like it's spreading to other parts of the country, will we see restrictions.

I think they are managing the relaxing of the lockdown this time very well to be honest. The first time not so much but they seem to have learnt.

@Beatinghearts

I think they are managing the relaxing of the lockdown this time very well to be honest. The first time not so much but they seem to have learnt.

What's going to stop what happened before from happening again though?

In a week or so we'll open up a bit more, and almost half the country still won't have had any vaccine.

In six weeks we're opening up entirely - and still about 40%? of the country won't have had any vaccine.

So what's in place to stop it all happening again?

B16172 has been able to seed itself around the country and start spreading while we're still in Lockdown, so it's going to be interesting to see what it can do when restrictions end isn't it?

At least B117 had the decency to establish itself during a period of no restrictions and had a helping hand from Eat Out To Help Out.

Tea there were so many posts saying that it was timed for the South, and the North forgotten.

I’m surprised you see it that way around as that stage went in for ages (on here).

Carrie what is the data on B16172?

Wrt infection rate and vaccine efficacy?

And what are the numbers doing now?

Some say we’ve been too cautious. I think about right even though it feels a glacial pace.

'Public Health professional here and no, they have not done a good job.There were doctors begging for PPE and for covid testing in the first wave. Remember that? When they decided because of lack of tests to only test those with symptoms, and not those in care homes, or doctors.'

'Public health professional' yet you don't understand that once the virus was endemic targeted tested had to be the priority until testing capacity was extended massively? Which it was very quickly, we were testing more than anywhere else within months.

Your comments about Japan are ridiculous. They did very little and put their success down to 'superior mentality' www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53188847 a cursory Google will identify lots of theories and ongoing research about some immunity in the far East from previous SARS exposure.

No, we were falsifying the number of tests being carried out for months. Bit of a difference.

Janie - they should have targeted testing for doctors and nurses. Boris stupidly refused to give them priority and so HcP were taking two weeks off work to isolate everytime as they couldn’t access tests at a time the health system was crumbling because of the lack of staff. Also asymptotic HCP because they weren’t being tested were spreading it advertently to vulnerable people. These stupid decisions were all made by the conservatives.

The scientists have done a fantastic job, Boris Johnson and his cronies, no they haven't.

To all the people saying that we didn't see a pandemic,in coming - well, you might not have, but plenty of people in the world of epidemiology and public health did. We knew that it would happen in our lifetimes - ok, so we didn't know it would be that particular virus, but we knew that a pandemic flu was possible, considered SARS and MERS.

We planned for it. We advised about it.

We were ignored by successive Tory govts (by "we" I mean successive public health bodies rather than me personally as I was only involved for a while peripherally).

Track and trace should have been handed to local public health teams who are the ones trained and experienced in....public health and infection control.

The contract for making ventilators should have been given to the companies that already make them. Not a man who designs hoovers.

PPE should have been sourced and a stockpile kept and kept up to date.

A proper plan should have been enacted immediately.

None of it happens and the govt was caught with their pants down.

The one success was the vaccine roll out which was given to the NHS to handle - no doubt setting them up for failure.

This is the most stupid, corrupt and morally bankrupt govt this country has ever seen. I think it says a lot for the people of this country who keep voting them in and frankly, they deserve everything that's coming their way. I do hope they can afford private healthcare and education for their children, not to mention have plenty of money out back to cope with the increase in prices of food.

The government have messed it up every step of the way and done everything weeks too late.

They should have locked us down at the end of last Feb when they could literally see the pandemic coming across Europe.
Eat out to help out should never have happened.
Foreign holidays shouldn't have been given the go ahead.
Pupils should have been tested before school return last Sept. And regularly after that.
Schools should have closed long before Xmas.

They're probably about to do it yet a-bloody-again by not insisting on masks in schools. Despite it being an airborne virus in a building of hundreds of non vaccinated people.

They should have locked us down at the end of last Feb when they could literally see the pandemic coming across Europe

How long would you have done lockdown?

And what do you think about Eastern Europe numbers?

On schools are you fine to ignore harms of closed schools?

'Janie - they should have targeted testing for doctors and nurses'

There wasn't capacity, it wasn’t as if they thought 'oh forget them who cares'. Hcps could isolate at home, those requiring medical treatment obviously couldn't. So patients being admitted to hospital had to be the priority. Until testing was expanded which it was and swiftly. We went from 2000 a day to 100000 a day by the end or April, now 2m a day.

Janie - there was capacity! And in any case who are you going to prioritise even if there were only 2000 tests? Surely HCP with symptoms?!

@Marcydarcy7867

Janie - there was capacity! And in any case who are you going to prioritise even if there were only 2000 tests? Surely HCP with symptoms?!

At the start there wasn't. I'd have done the same. Test those with symptoms being admitted to hospital, hcps with symptoms isolate at home.

I’d have acted like NZ locked us down swiftly and quickly last Feb - critically stopping flights (whereas Boris didn’t stop flights from China ever). Then we would have only needed to shut schools /lockdown for a few weeks rather than a year. Then I would have focused on a quick vaccination programme so we could open up again as quickly as possible. A year with no incoming immigration (without a 2 week quarantine) would have been far preferable to a year of everyone in the Uk having to stay at home, lose jobs, sacrifice their mental and physical health, kids not go to school or live normal lives.

We had capacity Janie - stop making up crap blindly defending Boris. Have you enjoyed the past year? He put you through it - he could have made different decisions and it wouldn’t have been as bad

@Marcydarcy7867 even if the March restrictions had been a week earlier and the November ones in October, the number of weeks of closed schools and non-essential shops could have been one month less or so in total. The negative impacts on mental health would have been a lot less (being at home in October without the early darkness of November, for example, less difficult).

In total the main restrictions have been nine months overall, and eight whilst not nil would have been a bit better.

And they're about to announce people are free to travel abroad and bring the virus back with them. Mercifully, a lot of countries won't let people in. Try getting into Australia now.
Does any else follow John Ashton on Twitter? He was a regional Director of Public Health and was on Question Time right at the beginning of this talking a lot of sense and saying that that Liverpool match was insane. He was pretty much laughed at by the rest of the panel and that awful Fiona Bruce.

Talking of QT John Bercow was in corruscating form on it this week. God..I wish he was still Speaker. He might make Johnson answer a question for once.

Oh god not the NZ comparisons, a tiny country with 5m pop and a population density of 18per sq mile.

Compare us to France, Spain, Italy and Scotland and I think you'll find we have a similar infection rate and similar death per million rate.

@Marcydarcy7867

I’d have acted like NZ locked us down swiftly and quickly last Feb - critically stopping flights (whereas Boris didn’t stop flights from China ever). Then we would have only needed to shut schools /lockdown for a few weeks rather than a year. Then I would have focused on a quick vaccination programme so we could open up again as quickly as possible. A year with no incoming immigration (without a 2 week quarantine) would have been far preferable to a year of everyone in the Uk having to stay at home, lose jobs, sacrifice their mental and physical health, kids not go to school or live normal lives.

What would you have done about road freight and NI / ROI?

'Have you enjoyed the past year? He put you through it - he could have made different decisions and it wouldn’t have been as bad'

Of course I haven't but we have been in the same boat as every other European country.