Is anyone else angry and embarrassed right now ?

[Sapphiresunrise]

For the developed and resourced country that we are, we are potentially going to be overtaking Italy and Spain by the looks of things.
Australia and other nations have death rates in double figures. They were smart to close borders and even close regions. Canada the same. Denmark, etc. The list goes on. South Korea have the situation under control.
We were warned about this. I feel like majority of those deaths could have been avoided.

In January/February they weren’t doing nothing - at that stage they were tracing and isolating cases.

But the WHO didn't advocate travel bans & closed borders. Have the WHO said China numbers are fake?

Mocha if you reread what I wrote I say if the measures were taken sooner we could have eased them up much sooner because we would have slowed the infections down massively, essentially stopping the virus in its tracks. Now we play catch up and for a longer period of time. Which again, I am certain you already know, I’m not sure why you are being so pedantic?

The real scandal was their view on herd immunology, which they are desperately distancing themselves from now.

if you reread what I wrote I say if the measures were taken sooner we could have eased them up much sooner because we would have slowed the infections down massively, essentially stopping the virus in its tracks

No I understood that part, my question was how you would implement that since 65.9m people didn't have the foresight you did?

LOL you lot almost had me there. Daft bunch of wenches... or wench, I’m guessing you’re all the same person right? Anyone reading this, THIS bunch of horrors are the same lot who were dismissive of what people were trying to say back in early Feb.

@wehttam are you going to tell us what will happen or not?

@Wheresthebeach Herd immunity may still be achieved before a vaccine is available, as lockdown cannot go on for a year. The aspect they changed was that we needed to slow the spread so NHS can cope.

OP you are getting accused of scaremongering. That has happened on this board since the beginning. I remember when we had about 30 deaths in one day a few posters trying to argue that was our peak and anyone saying it would get much worse was scaremongering.

You really don't want to know mocha, it won't be good.

mocha they didn’t have the foresight but the government did, again as you already know yourself...

Did the US need the WHO to confirm travel bans to China were good or bad before they implemented them?

Yes, the very first thought I had when I heard about the thousands dead/dying was how embarrassing?

I’m pretty sure Spain and Italy are ‘developed and resourced’ countries as well.

All this talk of ‘were not special’ but a lot of people here sure seem to think we should be, we should have zero deaths apparently, Boris should have shut down the entire country, but still magically enabled the economy to keep going, and ensure that the poor elderly and vulnerable were still looked after.

We should have shown the world the might of an island nation like ours, not like those backward countries like Spain and Italy

Alloutofucks. Let's see what happens.

We should have closed our ports and air ports weeks ago but can you imagine the outcry if the Government had taken that step ? The Left would have been outraged and demand that their right to travel was re-instated and that migrants rights had been obstructed

You cant compare us to Wuhan or S. Korea, the type of authority control and data collection wouldn't have been acceptable here. Instead they waited until people were begging for it to happen so they were more likely to be compliant. I blame the arrogant arseholes who are acting like they can do what they want, at least in part. Are we certain on what is going to happen when countries begin to emerge from lockdown anyway? Do we believe it's gone away? How long can a country sustain lockdown? I'm not saying our approach is right, but I don't think there are many winners really due to the nature of the disease, and the balancing act of compliance, sustainability and economic fallout. And yes, the economy is important, without it many people will die through austerity. Lockdown has its own challenges as well, within the first week there were shocking examples of brutality accredited to the lockdown; the mental toll will be inconceivably high. They always said it would come to this, but it needed to be timed right, you can't justify doing it for longer than necessary, and actually as people had been travelling here from affected areas before we knew it was a thing, it was already rampant here, I would bet money on it.

TLDR: every country is different, none is perfect, people have a responsibility as well as the government, and they need to weigh up the fallout from strict measures.

Herd immunity really means letting people get this virus and see who is alive at the end.

January and February there was minimal testing and contact tracing. The main thing that was happening was we were being told it is like a mild cold for all except those already on deaths door, and wash your hands.

@Lunar567 I disagree. Its the opposite. The media obediently relayed the government's othering message of it's "only the elderly and frail" (as it those lives aren't valuable). Making people think it affected only those on their way out already. Failed to get the message through that "elderly" included many working age people in their 60s, that actually the age risk starts increasing at 40, that the "underlying conditions" affect more than half our population. Obesity, asthma, diabetes, hypertension, all very common conditions.

OP I agree completely. How the government thinks this will help our economy I have no idea. Hardly a good look to the international community. Our feeble very belated attempts to set-up community testing, the lack of basic PPE for frontline staff, our prime minister shaking Covid patients hands...

Their priority was the economy over lives. They were too short sighted to see how stronger action short-term would've prevented longer-term damage - both in terms of lives lost, and a disrupted economy.

@Marieo completely agree

@fafoutis I'm edge of my seat

@wehttam are you going to tell us what will happen or just name call?

The Government has fucked up mightily.

WHO pandemic date should have been the wake up call that they needed to shut everything down immediately ... we're a fucking island ... entirely possible ... you quarantine everybody who comes back from that date forward (since we didn't start earlier) for two weeks to ensure nothing was spread from them ... and we didn't. Could have easily done so, but we didn't.

Hell, people are still coming off flights and just going straight home. madness.

NZ has done it brilliantly. Friends who just returned home there on one of the last flights went straight into 2 weeks of isolation ... and now have 3 weeks of quarantine as they go home to family.

Even South Korea are just buying time. The virus will spread to everyone eventually, lock downs only work for so long.
Herd immunity, and hopefully a vaccine are ultimately the only way of stopping the virus

Wettham "if you reread what I wrote I say if the measures were taken sooner we could have eased them up much sooner because we would have slowed the infections down massively, essentially stopping the virus in its tracks."

This is not how it would have panned out in the slightest!! Sorry, but that's such a naive and idealistic take on things.

How will testing help exactly? In Germany the path labs are complaining that they are wasting the reagents by testing healthy people (90% of the tests are coming back negative), and that there is no point testing anyone unless they are showing signs of the illness.

The antibody test, which shows if you have had it or not, will be much more useful.

allout February be like- it’s just the flu, it’s mild symptoms for most, only the very old or very sick will die from it. Nothing to worry about, just ways your hands, yeh Cheltenham is fine, Crufts? No problem, come in from all around the world. Schools will absolutely not be closed. No need to panic, NHS is fully prepared, we are BRITAIN! 🇬🇧