What would you have done had you been in charge?

[Hellishcrusade]

Let's say from January, you were in Boris Johnson's position. What would you have done when and how do you think the public would have reacted to it/ how would you have enforced it? I'd be really interested to know what people think because there's so much criticism and wildly different opinions being floated on here.
To be clear, I'm not in support of Boris particularly one way or the other and I'm definitely not smart enough to have made any good decisions! I'm just curious as to what others think as there seem to be strong opinions.

Stopped Brexit (given the start date)

Used my considerable persuasive powers to go for the Swedish strategy. That means lots of soft restrictions but not hard lockdown or wait-for-vaccine-to-save-us strategy. Kept most schools open, banned mass gatherings, encouraged WFH, put a lot of measure in to try to prevent transmission into care homes and inside hospitals & hospice/residential medical settings.

@draughtycatflap

Made sure everyone got it. Wiped out the human race. Left the planet in peace for the animals. Job done.

If mass euthanasia was the plan, there are painless drugs that do the job. Letting everyone die an often painful and frightening death is unnecessarily cruel.

If we really were to take the drastic End Humans option, there's kinder ways. Contraception so we all die out naturally, with robots to care for us at the end of our lives.

@yeOldeTrout

Stopped Brexit (given the start date)

Used my considerable persuasive powers to go for the Swedish strategy. That means lots of soft restrictions but not hard lockdown or wait-for-vaccine-to-save-us strategy. Kept most schools open, banned mass gatherings, encouraged WFH, put a lot of measure in to try to prevent transmission into care homes and inside hospitals & hospice/residential medical settings.

The Swedish strategy. So immediate end to overcrowded and density of housing, a sense of social responsibility, and a very good well-funded healthcare system?

Not that their approach went so well. They killed off loads of vulnerable care home residents, and their economy is doing much worse than neighbouring countries.

It’s a pointless question really.

However, the benefit of hindsight tells us that carehomes were the thing to get right. That was the biggest mistake. They were sacrificed on the altar of not overwhelming the nhs. That shouldn’t have been necessary and if people were looking at the Chinese data carefully, they could have seen the carnage coming.

I also think we should have phased a return to school in some form for all pupils much earlier. In Switzerland, they had their schools back from early May.

I'd have closed the borders in February. Started limiting numbers in shops and insisted on social distancing. Schools would have closed but I would have made teacher student contact compulsory. I'd have rolled it out for families in need and insisted on online recorded lessons for each subject. At least one a week from all teachers to their classes.

Outside playgrounds to remain open for children but numbers limited and social gatherings an arrestable offence. Household waste to stay open. Limit on distance allowed to travel unless essential work.

I think park benches could have been ok to keep open. People should have been able to sit down if necessary. At a distance of course.

NHS cancer clinics etc to have remained working but maybe pooled into non covid areas. The same with other vital services. I'd have tested people leaving hospital before going into care homes.

Funerals should have been attended by families.

I'd have gone with the track and trace system available in other countries instead of messing around.

I'd have admitted that Dominic Cummings had broken lockdown rules and kicked him out of government.

Big public events stopped much earlier.

Not sure I actually agree with this one, but here’s an alternative Covid party / extreme quarantine combo strategy.

I’d prepare a supply of food parcels for the over 60s, under 60s shielders, and care home staff and shut them off from the world for six weeks - literally. Those over 60s in intergenerational families would be required to move into hotels with other oldies for the period. They would have to stay put on pain of death.... as the outside world would be Covid hell for them for a few weeks....

The rest would be mandated to socialise with 100s of others at close quarters in assigned venues with poor ventilation for at least 4 hours each day. Free booze provided for adults. It would be a different venue each day to ensure maximum exposure to the virus.

The aim would be to get almost everyone infected over the course of the first few weeks, and then allow people to recover for the next three. A few thousand would probably still die, but we’d emerge in May with pretty good herd immunity!

I’m sure there are some flaws to this, but thinking outside the box can be refreshing....

@Derbygerbil that would be disastrous. I was just reading today about young people suffering heart damage from Covid. Experts believe it could affect around 20-30% of Covid patients. Young patients in their twenties and thirties. Previously healthy with no preexisting conditions.
It's a terribly dangerous gamble.

@Derbygerbil - not an idea I could get on board with not least because there’s a reasonable suspicion viral load has a part to play in covid and crowding lots of people together means there’s a risk of overwhelming people who would have otherwise fought off a weaker dose with multiple exposures in short succession.

@derbygerbil

Horrendous idea!

1 an awful lot of people with relevant pre-existing conditions don’t know they have them!

2 we have NO idea what the long term effects of the virus will be

3 we don’t really know yet how long people are infectious for despite claims we do

I think that might be the point of @Derbygerbil’s post. That the “shield the vulnerable and let the rest of us get on with it” idea might not really work.

My “plan” is admittedly batshit and isn’t something I’d seriously promote. I just had a bit of fun writing it.

@Hellishcrusade

Let's say from January, you were in Boris Johnson's position. What would you have done when and how do you think the public would have reacted to it/ how would you have enforced it? I'd be really interested to know what people think because there's so much criticism and wildly different opinions being floated on here. To be clear, I'm not in support of Boris particularly one way or the other and I'm definitely not smart enough to have made any good decisions! I'm just curious as to what others think as there seem to be strong opinions.

I would have started off by going to that Cobra meeting about Covid (and the other 5??) he missed instead of choosing the photo opportunity with the dragon.

The list goes on. It’s more traits I’d like to see in a leader tbh, it’s a crap time for whoever was running the show. But there is no empathy, care or even a sense that he takes responsibility for the impact of his decisions. Or transparency... I could go on for sometime to be honest!

But most of all I’d have acted to save lives quicker. I think he’d have our trust now if he’d done that. A trust that would have translated into a sounder economy.

He really has messed up big time.

That the “shield the vulnerable and let the rest of us get on with it” idea might not really work.

Indeed.... It’s a line that people drop in like it’s obvious and easy, generally without any thought to the actual implications of attempting to do it. Quite how care homes could be safely staffed with such a policy being one.