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.

Why do you keep saying the UK has the highest death toll in Europe.

It doesn't, either in absolute numbers or per capita.

We are roughly average. No body knows where we will end up in comparison, but I've seen nothing credible reported suggesting that we will end up dramatically different from most countries

I think they've done great personally
You think highest death toll in Europe is a great job? Could you tell me what a bad job would look like? Genuine question.

We are (outside of The Vatican City and a few principalities) I think one of the most densely populated countries in Europe.

Who ever was in charge I would be very surprised if we didn’t have the highest death rate in Europe

The highest death toll in Europe

What data are you using to say this?
This thing is far from over, I think it premature to be pointing fingers at the "worst" country

I think those who think they've done great probably don't work in a care home.

We're less densely populated than South Korea.

I agree OP

The Government has been incredibly incompetent and slow to react. Its a shitshow.

we don't have "the highest death toll in Europe" either in absolute or per capita numbers, we have the most tightly integrated international hub in Europe, and it stands to reason that we would always be hit hard by this.

with where we started I think the government team are doing fine.

We're less densely populated than South Korea.

Yes because we also learnt so much from our SARS experience & are so culturally similar 🤦🏼‍♀️

I said we are predicted to have the highest death toll in Europe, in my op, not that we have that right now.

Isn’t the highest death rate Belgium and the highest death toll Italy

of course it's always easy to whinge and whine for behind a keyboard and run your own country down, usual suspects I note

So easy to be an armchair critic when you aren't even aware of the myriad of variables in play and wouldn't understand most of them anyway. You're also predicting the final outcome when we're barely a few hundred meters into a marathon. Maybe you should just be quietly grateful that you are not involved in trying to navigate a path through this crisis instead of criticising those (the vast majority of whom are not politicians) who are doing their very best to do so.

I don't think the government acted quickly enough. I am still astonished at the lack of common sense demonstrated by many people though. Piling into pubs on the day they were to be closed, barbecues and parties still carrying on...

What would you have done differently OP? Bearing in mind that we don't have the capability of Germany to manufacture tests quickly as they did, we locked down at similar numbers to other places, and a prolonged lockdown isn't sustainable; more people will die from non related things during it than from covid 19 so having it earlier would have still been problematic? No, it hasn't been handled perfectly, of course not, but interested on your ideas.

We don't know if we have done the right/wrong thing now and won't for many months until this is over. As for 'getting out of lockdown safely' what do you mean? There is no safety? It's a novel fucking virus.

I mean, yes, it would be lovely to live in the apparent utopia that is New Zealand where apparently locking down at zero deaths has meant that the virus has magically disappeared, and despite the fact there will be zero immunity within the population NZ will lift their lockdown and no one else will die and their economy will quickly recover, but meh, we are stuck here for now and only time will tell which countries made the best decisions.

PS there is a global shortage of PPE, we did buy £££s which was not up to standard so couldn't be used, and we are now competing globally with others to buy it.

We are doing a lot better than a lot of countries.

I said we are predicted to have the highest death toll in Europe, in my op, not that we have that right now

You never said that.

You said we were predicted 40000 deaths. Which, let's be honest, wouldn't be too bad considering the last bad flu season we had around 35000 people died.

What so many posters seem to overlook that it's not just about what we should have done & when we should have done it, you need to account for human BEHAVIOUR!!

I've seen people on here saying we should have forced lockdown much earlier but no one seems to be able to tell me how you encourage 66m people to not leave the house when 1 person has died in Italy. The public have to want lockdown, we needed to see the photos & rapid death rate in Italy.

Of course the gov have made mistakes like many others but it's completely redundant to compare our country to younger homogenous populations or countries with much more space or countries that have an expensive not free health care system.

Oh and it’s a global shortage. Wish people would realise this before spouting nonsense

Unfortunately i agree op.
Tbh i would have had more faith in conservative managing this.
But tbh i consider their actions criminal. And think they need to be investigated.
They didnt stop the italy people returing to schools and work
Were never testing people
Let 111 and nhs turn people away till they are blue and beyond
Werent going to shut schools
Left it too long to warn people vulnerable to stay in.
Lied about masks helping
Couldnt get ventilators or ppe.

Consequently we dont know true figures for cases so people have always thought they were safer than they were which is why im sure many of these thousand have already died.
Noone is wearing masks so some people spreading to thousands
Implied we are safe to go to work/on public transport when it hasnt been safe

Their plan is still to infect all young people and school children so hundreds of them will die. Which will also infect the teachers and parents.
We have lost many nhs staff (and bus drivers) due to lack of ppe.
Yes we might not have full hospitals but how many times overful would they be if these thousands were still recovering there.

Italy was telling us and the world but uk calculations were either wrong or a blatant lie as we could all work out how bad it would be.
Plus things were being sensored and people led to believe it would be similar to flu meaning some people think they dont need to worry and have found it hard to change their mindsets.

I dont know about comparisons to other countries as we never tested but it seems likely we have had maybe a million infections? So more than some other countries but nowhere near a herd.

Imo schools shouldnt go back probably not even in sept as you cant distance there it risks parents and teachers (then who does the parenting/teaching). But either way they NEED to allow parents to keep kids home if it's not safe for them or the family.

This government is a joke. They do not care for you or your loved ones

We have the second highest population in Europe, so it wouldn't be surprising if we do end up highest. Per capita is a more useful measure.

But I still haven't seen us predicted highest by anyone credible, because no one has confidence in what will happen in the next year. We are currently, doing okay, about fine, as well as almost every other country.

Everyone is struggling with PPE, everyone is struggling with economic fallout, everyone is struggling with testing, everyone is struggling with strains on their healthcare system. (Well, apart from Germany anyway ).

OP, what would you have done? How would you have done it, please tell us?