Even if the UK turns out not to have the highest rate, I hope some people on here aren’t wilfully denying that the UK will be amongst the worse rates and it’s no mystery why, poor testing, lock down too late, lack of sufficient PPE.
This. It's astounding how little outcry there has been about the death rates here. I'm sure it will come eventually, when we are looking back.
Government have done a good job with fudging the death rates that are announced but excess death rates will provide a good comparison, certainly to similar European countries.
As for us not having overflowing hospital corridors like Italy and Spain, I think that contributed to our death rate. They tried to save more people. The extremely strict triaging here almost certainly meant that people who may have survived with treatment didn't get it in time, especially as research suggests that early oxygen treatment can be very effective - one of the reasons why Germany may have a much lower death rate. Another thing that will probably come out in the inevitable public inquiry that will one day take place.
We locked down too little, too late - the economy has been damaged probably more than if we had done an earlier, shorter, tighter lockdown and many lives would have been saved. There isn't much that can be done about it now, other than learn lessons if a future lockdown is needed, but I'm sure looking back in years to come our government's response will be seen as a total failure.