how would you have handled covid if you were pm ?

[warmandtoasty2day]

so many boris slaggers on here and arm chair scientists, but i'm curious to know how would you have done from the start in dealing with this?
i'm an ordinary person in the street, good education, up to now, life time of common sense and have had a large family but i wouldn't begin to know where to begin on this one .

oh, but we would still wear masks on public transport and places alike.

What makes me more cross than anything is people pretending that this was unforseeable. It wasn't. It was top of the UK risk register in terms of likelihood of occurrence and severity of impact, and has been for a very long time. We knew a pandemic was almost inevitable (they have happened pretty much every century in recorded history) and we knew it'd spread far faster this time because of globalised travel.

The risk and likelihood was always way above that or terrorism etc yet peanuts spent on preparing because every Government gambled that it wouldn't happen on their watch. They even did an exercise in 2016 which highlighted the weaknesses in our preparedness and chose to act on none of its recommendations.

Yet we still hear "oh no, poor Government, who could have predicted this?"

Mind blowing. Everyone predicted this. It was only a matter of time. We are lucky really that it isn't a more deadly virus. Perhaps consider it a warning shot from humans encroaching on nature too much and elect better Governments in future or prepare for worse next time.

Plus, closing borders/ quarantining people in hotels is easier said than done at short notice.

When does it stop being ‘short notice’ though? This situation has been going on for months now. Other counties have had managed isolation and quarantining set up for months now.

• Like other pp’s, ban all international travel with compulsory Australian style quarantine on arrival
• Anybody returning due to work reasons should have quarantine expenses (ie hotel) paid for by their company, personal travel it’s on you
• Every child of school age should have access to their own personal laptop (loaned or rented by the government and supplied by tech firms)
• All contracts to be put through a fair and transparent sourcing process
• Mask exception certificates to be issued by GPs only. No need for reason to be stated but official document to avoid the I don’t want to wear a mask crowd. And definitely ban the selling of sunflower lanyards from Poundland!

And going forward there should be some restrictions for people who actively choose not to have the vaccine. If you have restrictions on travelling to certain countries without proper vaccinations then the same approach should be taken here when it comes to going to Wetherspoons or the cinema

I would extend the banning of strike action to all key workers, including teachers. I see teachers as being key workers as well.

Although only a temporary measure, it's harsh and authoritarian I know, but some of the middle class progressive so called left are now agitating for a general strike. A GS would be hugely damaging for our most vulnerable and deprived and it would be them, not the bourgeoisie agitators, who would suffer the most.
Comrades

It's quite easy to see what we should have done. You just have to look at the countries that managed to keep their numbers low. They all did the same - lockdown; quarantine; track and trace; masks. And lots of us suggested those steps in March. Ironically some of the Asian countries that managed good containment used the UK pandemic strategy. It's just they updated and implemented it. It seems hardly anyone in our government even read our pandemic strategy never mind ensuring it was updated, funded and followed.

I'd probably have got massively pissed, given my friends and family huge PPE contracts, then resigned and let some other mug deal with it.

I think it's so easy to say in hindsight what should have been done. But try dealing with this AND keeping the economy ticking over AND kids in education AND at the same time not overwhelming health services.
I personally believe the lockdown earlier in the year has helped the virus mutate itself so a more transmissible version has evolved, helpfully incubated and spread in every school from September.
The only think to do now is a severe lockdown including getting given an allocated time and supermarket to use, you may not visit any other. Vaccine for those of working age once we have stats in from the OAPs that have had it to prove it's safe. A transition to distance learning where possible for schools and universities. Switch off all dating apps as I know people are still meeting strangers for a quick shag. Do that for six months then review.

But I don’t just think it’s easy to say with hindsight. At the time decisions were being made it was obviously ridiculous.

Ignoring experts re pandemics
Not listening to advice given after an exercise re a pandemic
Lockdown not happening soon enough
Saying we have a world beating track and trace when we didn’t even have a functioning one
Giving contracts to your mates instead of people with experience
Eat out to help out scheme
Furlough scheme ending in October
5 days relaxation of rules over Christmas
DoE threatening to take Greenwich council to court about school closures
Dithering about school closures now
Fucking about with the vaccine

It’s not with hindsight that these appear madness, they were stupid at the time

Prioritised schools by not reopening restaurants, pubs, gyms etc in July. As soon as he did that we were always going to end up in this mess.
Everyone tested every week at school. Masks for everyone, except the really tiddly kids. Rota learning for non exam secondary kids so smaller numbers were in school at a time.
Sorted the laptop issue.
Longer half term to act as a firebreak. And a longer xmas break. Remote learning instead of being in the building.

Increased the number of pontential symptoms so people got themselves tested.

He could have set an example and cracked on with his health kick too. He soon got bored with that didn't he.

I would have turned up to all the meetings about it when it first started kicking off. I would have listened to public opinion and done everything sooner. I wouldn't have kept Dominic Cummings on.
I would have let university students stay at home and I wouldn't have let everyone go on holiday abroad in the summer.

These are all things I thought were stupid at the time, and I turned out to have been right.

I’d have needed to travel in time back to the 1980s to sort this one, I reckon. The struggles and tensions in the NHS date back to Thatcher (possibly even before) and successive administrations — including the Blair one — have failed to sufficiently support the interconnected health systems in this country. This includes proper pandemic planning, which was deprioritised in phases by the Cameron and May governments.

I would have shut the borders in January, would have made sure nhs had enough PPE rather than leaving it late, introduced track and trace really early, stepped up testing, once we had it in Brighton id have locked down the area. I'd have listened to the WHO and used lockdown track and trace and social distancing all together. Taking this step I'd have a lot of the country operating "as normal " , followed China with mass testing, got an app going early that actually worked and coordinated testing with GPS data and temperature checking like they did in China, made it mandatory for people who wanted to get out snd about use the app, if someone hadnt got a phone that worked id give out trackers but most people have smart phones. Not had had a weak and useless cabinet that give jobs to their mates and pissed away taxpayers money. I'd have introduced mask wearing early following the example of SARS and MERS, so many people felt that masks were a good idea and yet the government briefed against them for ages. Any cases that sprung up I'd have jumped on tracing contacts and requiring quarantine and employing lock downs. I'd have employed teams of people to disinfect public places and transport like they did in China and Korea and Taiwan and Thailand and Singapore. It was scary watching them at the time but more scary that nothing like that was happening in the UK. I would have introduced an "anyone who can work at home should work at home" order from start of February, abd advised anyone with cold or flu symptoms to stay off work, I'd have provided PPE and disinfectant and sanitiser to schools early on. I would have cancelled large public gatherings and asked universities to move to online lectures. I'd have taken the threat to care homes seriously, supplied PPE, locked down, not sent ill people back to care homes from hospital after seeing entire homes wiped out in Italy. I would not have closed schools unless there was a case. I'd have supplied funds to make online learning as good in state as it was in private I'd have coordinated education centrally rather than requiring schools to do their own thing and free up teacher time for safeguarding vulnerable pupils. I'd make sure poorer families have access to internet. I'd have extended the brexit deadline until UK and Europe were on top of pandemic and we could get a decent trade deal that didn't screw our number one industry. Sorry to mention Brexit.

The government have been lucky that Covid isn't a lot worse. If this had been a more infectious Ebola we would have been screwed, if this had been like Spanish or Asian flu and killed more children it would have been devastating. We got "lucky" this time but I can't believe the hubris that let the virus run rampant in this country. It was so obvious from January this year what was coming and I thought we'd learn from what happened in China rather than repeating their mistakes. Once they got a handle on it I thought we'd follow suit. We're a rich country we should have been able to copy but its just been a pigs ear.

The really annoying thing is any of these measures done early enough would have seemed harsh but helpful. As it is much of it came to pass anyway but too late to save lives. The money spent if I was in charge would have been hideous but probably less than have been spent now anyway and would have preserved our economy so kept up the tax base to fund more measures that kept us safe.

And agree with PP that this is not hindsight talking this is what I genuinely thought would happen and was shocked we just let people back in the country without border controls and quarantine. I remember seeing people returmed from China bused to the Wirral with a full hazmat suit guard and the poor driver with no PPE . We were so cavalier it was horrifying.

"This is all lovely to say in hindsight, but masks were sold out in January and office talk was of nothing but corona and when we would stop the flights, shut the border and work from home"

@PicsInRed it wasn't though was it? It wasn't until the end of February/beginning of March that this really became all anyone talked about.

I was away at the end of feb with a group of people and we all commented shortly afterwards that although we'd all heard of the virus, on our weekend away not once did it come up in conversation. The first time I commented to my boss that this was on every news station was the third of March. I remember as my friend was travelling to Spain that day and I asked if she was worried. She wasn't.

yy zen. I was horrified at that coach driver too. Mental.

As soon as everything opened up in early summer I was muttering about how fucked we were.

I'm the weirdo who bought masks at the very start of feb as I could see this shit show unfolding.

I would have started from a position of excellent NHS, social care and education provision. Not overworked and underpaid staff on their knees. All schools would have been able to provide laptops and the software needed for every single student along with good online support to aid home learning for a long period of time.

I would also have ensured that the pandemic preparation and provision was there.

I would not have allowed four fucking years of bitching and fighting over Brexit to have taken up all the energy, funds and parliament time.

I'd have a cabinet of decent, adequately qualified experts in their fields.

A universal basic income at a truly livable level would already be in place.

So all that is before we even get to the virus getting here.

The pandemic prep would already mean that we had a plan in place for test, track and trace.

Borders would have been closed and anyone needing to travel would have been subject to a strict government controlled quarantine like China and other countries did.

The care homes would not have been forced to take Covid positive cases back as the hospitals would have been able to cope with keeping them in.

Because our test, track and trace service is so well funded, this will be very effective in identifying and managing local outbreaks.

Schools closed with effective and targeted support and additional help for key worker families and vulnerable children.

A clear, decisive and responsive plans for lockdowns. These would be strict and would include enforced restrictions on leaving your local area unless you have a reason for doing so that you can evidence.

The summer relaxation would still have happened to some degree but would have been better managed and with the clear message that a full lockdown would be needed again.
That way, areas will low case numbers will not be overrun by tourists and second homers and outbreaks can be contained more easily. No-one needs to travel more than 10 miles out of their community for exercise or leisure.

Adults and children would have access to meaningful mental health support because those services would be fully staffed and funded without huge waiting lists.

There would be effective and clear advice for vulnerable people which did not expect them to continue working and putting themselves at risk.

The response throughout the crisis would be calm, measured, well evidenced and would not be a petulant and reactive response when it's too fucking late.

We would be listening to experts and following their advice.
This fucking vaccine shambles wouldn't be happening because people would be getting their second doses.

I'm sure there's loads more I haven't thought of but my response would be from a position of already having our ducks in a row and not being a dangerous, inadequate and dishonest shower of cunts leading us.

Some brilliant points on here, oh for a time machine

Not being a scientist or doctor, I would have handed most of the management over to the fully qualified people who know what they are talking about. There are reasons we have CMOs and epidemiologist and scientist advisors and etc. I'd have got the best brains I could find behind it and I'd have let them draw up the policy for best management/reducing case numbers and been guided by that, whilst obviously taking full responsibility if it went tits up. Because I wouldn't have had any clue what to do!

Oh and the stupid eat out to help out. I would have reduced the price by 50% of a meal for up to six people, delivered. Keeps within the rule of six and stops people going out.

Australia and New Zealand closed their borders on 19th March, the day WHO declared a pandemic.
We would have still been in a far worse position as there were plenty of cases here by then...but I'm not convinced there would have been support for closing borders here in January (as a lot of PP have been suggesting) although it would have been wise to quarantine travellers from China from that time.

my response would be from a position of already having our ducks in a row
for you ducks in a row means having everything set up to benefit the people
For the Tories ducks in a row means having everything set up up to preserve and entrench existing power structures, placate the masses with bread and circuses whilst your rich friends get richer

It's easy to say in hindsight what you would do. Yes, knowing what we know now, I would have closed the borders to all but freight. In reality that is a massive decision to take and, I think that, at the time, it was probably thought that the virus would be like SARS or MERS.

I would have had all lessons conducted by zoom with those kids with no laptops or keyworkers' children allowed in school but with mandatory mask-wearing at all times.

Mandatory mask wearing for those who cannot wfh plus on public transport from the start. No exemptions. If you can't wear a mask then you must shield. Everyone shielding to have priority for on-line shopping. No free boxes of food for those shielding. Just why?

Stricter controls on companies furloughing staff so that only those who really would go to the wall could furlough staff. No payment for PPE contractors until delivered and quality-checked (but thereafter payments up front because of the quantities involved). Use of UK companies where possible.

Army called in to patrol the streets and detain (in prison) protestors not wearing masks or people attending raves etc.

I returned to the UK from SE Asia at the beginning of February. News about the virus was all over the news, including BBC world service from around Christmas time. Masks already being worn by everyone and hand sanitiser everywhere. By late February covid tests were available for around £10.
I had my temperature taken before boarding flight home, only allowed to remove mask for passport check.
I brought masks and hand sanitiser home with me and self isolated for 2 weeks.
If the UK had started the hands, face, space regime in January that would have made a difference.
They should have given all the test and trace responsibility to local environmental and public health departments.
They should have purchased PPE from the companies that have been supplying the NHS for decades and knew how to manufacture the right stuff.
That would have been a start.