So we are predicted to have the highest death toll in Europe, due to systemic errors made by this government. Do you trust the government to get us out of lock down safely?

[ssd]

I don't. They've f**d up too much. NHS managers are begging for PPE, NHS workers are dying.

This government have really really let us down.

We are predicted to have 40,000 deaths by the end of this.

The only silver lining is is that Labour might get its act together now Keir Starmer is in charge. Things can't get any worse.

And if any tory bots start saying 'at least it's not Corbyn'.. Well save your breath. No one could have made a bigger mess than Boris and Co.

Astonished that anyone in their right mind could think the Government has done a good job.

They were caught with their trousers down. A level of incompetence that beggars belief. Crufts and Cheltenham went ahead when they knew damn well what was happening.
Medics have died due to the Government's stalling. Care home staff and the elderly sacrificed. Its an absolute fucking disgrace.

But then what can you expect from a PM so dim/arrogant that he shook hands with victims of a brand new deadly virus.

I often thank god that with the awful world changing pandemic that at least is happened at such a time that at least the government had the country in such a position that they can do something to prop up the economy and also incentivise people to stay home and thus far, we have enough beds/ventilators

When I see what’s going on in USA I’m so grateful

When I read about the bodies in the streets and mass graves in South America, I’m grateful

When I think about what went on in Italy, I’m grateful.

I haven't RTFT so I imagine someone has posted this before. But it doesn't show the UK govt in good light, given how much warming we had ahead of other countries.

www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/]]

I wanted to trust them, I really did, but they’ve been promising tests, antibody tests, PPE, flights home for stranded brits for weeks now, and are still not delivering.

Our ‘peak’ could have been so much smaller.

I feel like I was better prepared for this than the government was.

I agree womanaf. Ireland shut things down a littler earlier and have fewer than half the deaths per head of population as a result.

It remains staggering that they haven't followed the WHO advice to 'test, test and test'.

It remains staggering that frontline NHS staff don't have adequate PPE and, 5 weeks after the WHO declared that CV19 as a pandemic, that it's only just receiving attention that staff in care homes and home care are equally less well protected, costing 1,000s of lives.

The daily press briefings are excruciating in their lack of information and coherence.

It's really scary.

@AvalancheKit, will this do?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3881775-Captain-Tom-Moore-Give-him-a-nighthood

@BflatMajor... the press briefing tonight was excruciating to watch. I switched off after Alok Sharma was asked a question about classing health care workers as unskilled. Round and round he went, saying he wanted to pay tribute to the amazing nhs workforce.

What a mess it was tonight.

There is research coming in that most people who have this virus do not develop immunity
AIUI this is misinformation, there are cases of relapses, but not re infection
this discussion explains the distinction between relapse and reinfection

This Top Coronavirus Expert From South Korea Will Answer All Your Questions

So we shouldn’t hold our government accountable then?

Yes, SSD, just keep it up.

Even as the worst country in Europe people are still in denial. I think perhaps if you voted for this government you might be at odds to accept how terribly they have mismanaged everything.

No I don't.

Considering they are asking people on the frontline to reuse PPE over this weekend... I am truly shocked. People are risking their lives and the government is suggesting this.

What happened to Burberry and all the other industries who can be utilised for this?

Yes yes it's a pandemic and global supply chains... but any government worth anything would have known this was going to be a possibility and planned for it.

I marvel at people thinking they're doing a good job considering we have around 20k deaths in total already and we've only been in lockdown for 4 weeks.

I keep thinking about that poor pregnant nurse who died and a baby robbed of their mother. There has to be answers.

I suppose if you send your troops out badly equipped to be cannon fodder there isn't much the troops can do about it, but those who are expected to be virus fodder are better positioned to refuse to risk their lives

We've lost some humanity if we blame the commitment of NHS workers risking their lives to save others rather than challenging why they were sent out 'badly equipped' to be 'virus fodder'. This does appear to bring the worst out in people.

My post about not closing borders, not testing arrivals and importing Rumanian fruit pickers has been deleted? Wtf was wrong with it?

That’s disturbing, Alsohuman. My first thought when this started was that we needed all arrivals, including Britons returning from holidays etc, to be quarantined and tested. I still can’t understand why such a simple and obvious measure was ignored. Many people have said the same. It’s not controversial.

I think members of the government are generally acting in good faith. I also believe that they range from the incompetent through to the mediocre.

I seen on the news earlier a private company that offered to help make PPE hadn't heard anything back since they offered.

There doesn't seem to be anyone managing this.

Like the consultancy company who said they had loads of ventilators? But actually the UAE had them, and they wanted to act as the middle man which isn't permissable, and also there wasn't the correct information supplied to be able to ascertain whether they were up to spec? Many, many companies have registered an interest, which is great, but it means it takes time to get through them. It is still tax payers money, and there's still only a finite number of staff working on it. I am not saying mistakes havent been made, but try and see behind the headlines.

Exactly Lizzy. There just doesn't seem anyone really capable of handling the magnitude of this virus. Or if there is someone, no one is listening to them. Angela Merkel is a scientist and she seems to have a good handle on this, her background must help.
Surely a country like this must have brilliant people who seen this coming and had an idea what might happen. Did the government /Cummings just not listen? I kind of feel that's the problem. Too many ego's and not enough brains.

@Willyoujustbequiet agree with every word you have said!

Their tactic so far seems to have been wait for some public outcry and demand (i.e. lockdown - after Boris' genius idea that we 'took it on the chin') and then implement that strategy claiming 'scientific advice'.)

Ditto PPE - I can understand it is difficult to obtain now, but IT WAS COMING and the preparation seems lax. Initiatives like get garment factories onto it should have been started BY the government not the public.

I'm very confused by all the Nightingale hospitals - seems a massive investment if they're now not needed? Maybe they could be repurposed for the following 'waves' so that people could start having their operations and routine treatments in normal hospitals again?

Meanwhile my Facebook is full of groups of people sewing scrubs, masks, headbands for masks, 3D printing visors etc because people on the frontline (nhs, yes, but also care homes, bus drivers, retail workers etc) are desperate.

Our hospital was asking for tee shirts this week. Tee shirts.

Merkel told their Pharma to start manufacturing in January

Was that before or after 23rd January when the WHO said the virus hadn’t left China