Our government have messed up. What would you have done?

[Concerned7777]

So many posts about how the government have messed up, not handled things well, they're a shambles etc
I'm interested to know what people would have done in they was the PM or what they would do now/next ?
What has been done wrong and what has been right?
disclaimer I'm not suggesting the Gov are right or wrong just after peoples thoughts

Lockdown after February half term.

I was genuinely baffled that we could see this coming and they did nothing for another month. We started to avoid events and busy areas at the end of Feb.

good points by @avocado - the virus has really shone a spotlight on England's decrepit public education, national health system, tech and just general lack of scientific knowhow … compared to germany, south korea, Taiwan It is a bit weird considering our university science courses are world beating, but then perhaps it reflects what a high % on the very tech courses are overseas students, particularly at phd level.

I dont think they were a shambles. I think whatever they did, people will have still complained.

It also showed a bit that countries like china and many other Asian countries know us really well, but we don't really have a clue about their society and healthcare systems - must be the case, cos otherwise we could have easily learned from them how to prepare and tackle sars-type. They have known this stuff since 2003. Since 2003, there is something like 10 million more flights a year (maybe more, I don't know) and we have courted trade with china and Chinese students coming to study here. So maybe England thought of Sars as something far away, whereas I think it's obvious that a globalised china means their issues impact England too, maybe.

Taken it seriously back in February when the first cases were confirmed. They could have done sample tests across all uk hospitals of patients and staff and quickly would have seen that the infection was widespread. The images coming from China were clear that this was a highly infectious disease and there had been hundreds of flights arriving from there so quite likely to have infections here.

The lockdowns should have been earlier but I can see how negatively this would have been received by large sections of the UK. Even when they did finally act many were saying it was unnecessary. How many more would have been infected and died if they had left it even longer?

I dont think they were a shambles. I think whatever they did, people will have still complained

Its not about "complaining" its about the UK having 64k excess deaths and counting :( one of the worst mortality rates anywhere in the world.

In a so called caring society, we should all want to know why.

Agree it's not about complaining.

I'm not particularly a Tory supporter. Generally affiliate myself more to left because I am very anti elitist attitudes but also feel people do have to take some responsibility for their destiny so swing right for some things. I've always been centric and swung vote dependent on who's manifesto I think will have the best outcomes in an overall way.
But I actually voted Tory in GE. Not locally as have SB as an MP!

I defended the government at the start. I kept saying they can't answer questions we don't have about coronavirus. They can't predict what will happen with a novel virus. I accepted we wouldn't have testing as much as some countries because we aren't experienced in coronavirus etc. I believed they were sourcing PPE as quick as they could etc.

But as time has gone on they themselves have allowed us to see their mistakes. They've refused to acknowledge mistakes and therefore haven't been as quick to rectify them. They didn't have a clear plan when BJ went into hospital. There was the Cummings shit show where BJ showed his true colours on his opinion if the British people whom he is actually meant to serve.

As all the propaganda language has been ramped up I've lost trust in them.

No government who is doing a good job needs to stand and try and convince the nation it's doing a world leading - world beating job. A good job is evident by action.

Stop all flights at once when the news reports of interesting new virus start to appear. Quarantine all those who have arrived already or recently arrived in empty hotel rooms at government expense.

Ban large events and gatherings of all kinds for a while. Told companies to make people work from home if possible. Schools stay open for the moment. Tell population to wear masks (this one might be a hard sell in a non mask wearing culture where the virus does not appear to be an imminent threat though).

Tell any manufacturing companies that are capable of producing masks and face shields to switch some of their production capacity over to these things--with the threat that failure to do so will mean that the government will have to impose harsh control measures which shut down or greatly inconvenience companies and hurt their profits. Let companies stamp their names on the PPE that they make and trumpet their production all over social media as a form of PR.

Test and trace. Quarantine any mild cases in empty hotel rooms at government expense. Severe cases go into hospital and are quarantined from other patients. They are NOT sent out into care homes.

If virus still appears to be spreading after this, close schools for a spell and intensify test and trace until the virus is suppressed. There should be no need for a lockdown as long as the number of cases is never allowed to get over a certain number and as long as "big ticket" spreaders have been closed (cancelling mass events and closing schools for a while etc.). Many of the most successful countries suppressed the virus without an actual lockdown.

Once virus is eradicated, join travel bubbles with other countries which have succeeded in largely or completely suppressing the virus (S Korea, HK, Singapore, NZ, Oz, Thailand, Vietnam and probably Japan and others in the very near future). Continue to control all arrivals--two days in quarantine, testing, temp checks.

With virus suppressed, life can largely return to normal apart from restrictions on large events like music concerts above certain size (since these provide too rapid a way for a single infection to fan out among a large number of people), and probably mild restrictions on schools and companies to reduce opportunities for any spread of the virus should a cluster break out. I would also mandate masks in all public indoor places (disabilities excepted), as it is a measure which slashes risk at minimal economic cost.