Italy v England. Why the different levels of sympathy?

[Whatsthis1515]

I am noticing that people feel sorry for Italy regarding their death toll but for the UK, people are scathing and pointing fingers. Why is this? I know Italy was supposed to be a lesson to us, but surely in that case, they didn't do the right thing either?

Interested to know what you all think.

Thanks

Possibly because our government learned nothing about what happened in Italy?

We saw them doing the wrong thing and copied them. Like fucking halfwits.

Because they saw what was coming and did nothing???

The PPs have said it all

What baffles me is why Italy was at its peak it was all over the news a national disaster etc the numbers of people who were dying, now were the same we’re getting praised for staying indoors and flattening the curve

Before this crisis we were a laughing stock in Europe. The way our government handled this crisis has further compounded that

The government saying “we’re doing great” rather than “shit it’s fucking awful”

It's as though we quickly became desensitised to it all. Italy was horrendous with lots of doctors speaking out, media reports from the frontline etc. I've heard of the odd doctor from here saying something on twitter but I don't recall any reporters going into ICU like they did in Italy. Probably sensible but with Italy there was a lot more horror, a lot more fear it could happen to us. It has happened to us but because the Nightingale hospitals are empty and we haven't got coffins stacked in hospital rooms then it doesn't appear as bad as Italy even though we have similar numbers of deaths. It's bizarre. I think our pseudo lockdown hasn't helped perceptions either. Too many loopholes and lack of clarity. I expect we will see an increase in 2-3 weeks after this weekend as so many people are now ignoring lockdown and socialising.

Because the British government had an opportunity to learn lessons from risky to reduce the impact here, if they acted quickly enough. They then just arsed about for 3 weeks and missed that opportunity.

There's a TV program non Sunday, BBC one Wales called critical. It's filmed inside the ICU in the royal gwent hospital by the doctors

Yes I definitely see we are a laughing stock. I also feel the government have long been a laughing stock even between British people. I honestly wouldn't know who to vote for, I don't feel any party represents me.

The more I think about the Madrid football match, Cheltenham etc, I can't believe it. We are an island FFS.

They had no warning it would hit them so hard, it looked like SARS all over again. We did know this was something very different and coming our way. We did nothing.

We’ve never had to choose which patient to ventilate as we’ve always had enough ventilators (Italy didn’t and people died due to no space/hospital beds). Italy’s death numbers are dubious and almost certainly should be higher but not been recorded properly. Cultural lifestyles are a key point too. There will be a lot of analysis but I’ll leave that to the experts rather than the online self proclaimed experts.

We had plenty of ventilators because we let everyone die at home.

We did nothing

If you think that then you clearly have no idea what hospitals all round the country were doing from early March! We adapted services, put in extra oxygen pipes, retrained staff in respiratory care and icu. Seriously, so much was being done but you keep spouting your negative “we did nothing” crap.

@m0therofdragons
Genuinely really interested for you to tell me more of your opinions? I am very open minded about things and I often ask questions on here and get attacked like I have an agenda but I love to hear differing opinions. Why do you think their death toll should be higher etc?

Basically what @Thisismytimetoshine said.

The UK saw what it was doing in Italy and your PM bragged about continuing to shake people's hands 🤯

Such a very poor show of leadership and any commonsense, that I really can't take anyone serious who says BoJo has done an ok job with this.

So we know the numbers of people who died at home?

I know in my trust we increased critical care beds threefold within 2 weeks. It’s not true to say ‘we did nothing’

@Itisasecret that’s not true from what I’ve personally seen. Maybe your experience is different but we’re caring for people in their 80s and 90s so who do you think we are leaving at home whilst we party round our spare ventilators?

Possibly because our government learned nothing about what happened in Italy?

Apart from enabling the increase in services so we never had to pick and choose who to save, you mean?

The relate definitely people with an agenda- persistent posters with nhs negativity even though some aren’t in the uk.

@Whatsthis1515 Italy has high numbers of deaths “not yet accounted for” so essentially people who died outside of a hospital setting who hadn’t been tested for covid.

I think there are a lot of unknowns. I’ve seen some seriously poor journalism and “facts” that I question from my own experience as part of a hospital Incident Management Team.

There will be things the government could have done differently/better but that’s with hindsight. They can only go on the information they have. I personally think public transport it a big factor - south west has lowest rates and poorest public transport.

The government cannot win (at least not on MN and in the eyes of the BBC)

Brexit bitterness
Save people!
Save the economy!
If you close the borders you’re racist Brits
I want my holiday to Benidorm I’m entitled
Pressure from large companies invested in the country.

The death rate is high because British people will not obey rules, the street parties up and down the country prove it. Tonight there are dozens of videos of crowded parties in my city with zero distancing and in one they are passing around a shisha pipe. That’s why our death rate is astronomical. There are 20 dead in my postcode alone (largely white and affluent area) I’m not surprised as on the odd occasion I’ve been out you would never think there was anything different going on.

Agree that Italy was taken completely by surprise, no time to prepare. We watched the awful scenes from there and did virtually nothing to prepare ourselves for the same. There was almost a sense that it wouldn't happen here because we were British.

“We did nothing”

I think that comment was aimed at government not the NHS staff.