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 .

Current air passenger count (London airports) is about 12% of last year's numbers... I guess that's still too high for people on this thread?

Tens of Thousands of our citizens would have been stranded abroad.

What are we at now, 75,000 dead? Families bereaved, long covid, economy absolutely wrecked, and for what, so some extremely foolish March holiday makers could return with covid. Who in their right mind was holidaying abroad in March 2020? Who would be now? No half competent company was sending staff on internal work flights by March 2020, let alone abroad and if anyone is on holiday right now and gets stranded?

Absoutely no sympathy. None. Close the borders.

Yep travel for work with hotel quarantine.
In early March we all knew what was coming so I had no sympathy for those who went on holiday. Same as anyone who travelled since March and had the rules changed

@lljkk

Current air passenger count (London airports) is about 12% of last year's numbers... I guess that's still too high for people on this thread?

Yes.

I would have joined the early cobra meetings and shut the incoming flights from Europe when Italy cases went exponential. I would have widened the testing criteria from February baring in mind Chinese travellers had been unaware or actively left China prior to lockdown. I also would have made decisive actions re. PPE for teachers in classrooms, indoor locations and communal travel from when China demonstrated widespread mask usage. I would have also worn a mask in public and not gone around shaking peoples hands and ensured the government followed the advise they were advocating. Exams should have been allowed to go ahead with dual mask wearing and continuation of lessons for years 11 and 13. I would t have tried to spin the science. I would also have ensured that bipartisan senior front line leaders in health care and education were given advisory roles and shipped out inadequate advisors earlier.

I think the shelter in place for stranded citizens would have reduced global spread. Harsh but would have been effective

Closed borders and stoped the flights coming in with zero testing.

@Indecisive12 a 2 week quarantine for someone on a 2week on 2week off shift pattern wouldn't work well would it though. They are not going to stay on a ship forever.
But just so you know how they have actually handled that- they have made them exempt(somewhat silly I know, but these ppl deserve to get home!) To be honest though my dh is in contact with less ppl than me in theory, just his crew!) no shops to go to etc, travelling he sees no one really as the airports are extremely quiet.

Which kinds of international travellers would you have allowed -- people accompanying organs for transplant? What about the flight crew themselves, or Brexit negotiators? Would all freight have to be unaccompanied?

1 closed borders (except freight) straight away
2 made masks in all public spaces compulsory straight away
3 introduced lockdown a lot sooner
3 a come out of lockdown slowly, allowing certain areas on employment back in stages, with harsh fines or repercussions for anyone breaking lockdown before being allowed.
3 b not allowed any recreational trips through out the country including holidays, 2nd home visits
4 gave the police greater legal powers to arrest dickheads breaking the rules
5 introduced massive fines for employers breaking the rules
6 introduced massive fines for anyone crossing county borders unless for certain reasons (work, medical reasons etc..)
7 bring in the military to help enforce the rules

8 most importantly not be pressured by anyone not to follow my plan and rules

Only locked down for 1 month in March just to get some sort of handle on the situation.
WFH if you could. Everyone had to wear a mask when out of the house.
SD whether shopping or eating out etc throughout the summer.
I think if we had left it at that. Maybe making sure bigger venues could open but with reduced numbers to make sure of Social Distancing.
And then just gone through with no lockdowns I think we would have been in a better position than we are today.
People wouldn’t be so fed up. People would be going to Socially Distant meals or drinks with friends in pubs and restaurants instead of mixing indoors where SD goes out of the window

It would have been a brave move but I think the right one

a 2 week quarantine for someone on a 2week on 2week off shift pattern wouldn't work well would it though. They are not going to stay on a ship forever.

A two week quarantine for airline crews who flew to China and back in one continuous shift (for it was so, for a while last summer, so that much needed PPE could be brought into the UK ) wouldn't work either, but I'm sure that's what some of the "lock the borders, ban all flights, who needs freight bringing in anyway?" brigade would like....

Even now the need for airfreight and crew to fly it in continues - as I think various threads have established the UK is not New Zealand..

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-55361080

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

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.

Loads of sensible ideas that could have been put in place without aid of the rectrospectoscope!
Lock down a week earlier in March.
Masks for all including children once it became clear they helped transmission.
Borders closed as far as possible, freight not withstanding and quarantining put in place.
Communication put front and centre as it has been hopeless.Consistency of message and reinforcing the need for measures to help our families and communities.
Cabinet reshuffle at the start of the crisis to reflect the necessity for capability rather than Brexit idealism even if this meant cross party team work.
Dominic Cummings should have lost his job( also Priti Patel) .
Following the science should have meant something.
Our communication and cooperation with EU neighbours and wider allies should have been made clearer.

Does a 'public space' (masks) include walking down a deserted suburban road at 9pm? What about a Forestry Commission woodland with no one else in sight?

I'm trying to figure out how many freight shipments come into UK daily. 10,000 thru the port of Dover alone. (usually only one driver vehicle? Or can drivers arrive in pairs?)

Add accompanied freight arriving at Harwich, Felixstowe, Southampton, Grangemouth, Liverpool... And then there's airport freight... If those planes still fly, they need crews. And then there are ships bringing freight... Oh, and then there's Navy, merchant & military.

lljkk

Which kinds of international travellers would you have allowed -- people accompanying organs for transplant?

Yes. Accompanied freight ok.

What about the flight crew themselves

Yes. Accompanied freight ok.

Brexit negotiators?

By video link if there's a lockdown (pretty much as they did it). If outside of lockdown, this would be essential work travel.

Would all freight have to be unaccompanied?

No. Accompanied freight ok.

Only casual travel would be stopped, and all bullshit work travel which can be done by zoom.

One more thing...If the work travel is that urgent and essential...they won't mind the 2 week formal quarantine imposed on return this should eliminate most of the piss takers.

@lljkk

I'm trying to figure out how many freight shipments come into UK daily.

As you hint at it's big numbers and there are inevitably a lot of people attached to those shipments, many of whom live in the UK.. cart all of them off to a 14 day quarantine on arrival and you'd be out of drivers/crew members etc PDQ... and then....???

There is no way that the UK can somehow be hermetically sealed off from the outside world with nobody crossing the borders.

NZ and Aus also have loads of inwards freight, all of it crewed, some of those crews living in-country. It's doable if we're willing, but if we're not willing then what are we doing with another lockdown? We're either trying to flatten the curve or we're not. Presently, we are not.

The fact is that most of the accompanied freight is a truckie who spends much of the journey alone in a cab. They won't spend a boozy holiday socialising, partying, eating out shoulder to shoulder then return home to schools, offices, hospitals and care homes.

That's why accompanied freight is ok and holidays - right now - are not.

New Zealand says its borders are closed BUT they do have flights in and out still...necessary ones only of course. And that includes ppl who then do a managed isolation for two weeks. They are NOT flight free nor freight free.

I know a family that flew out there a few weeks ago for a funeral...so it's possible. Yes they needed visas, yes they quarantined, yes they got a flight. So technically they are not "closed"

@freakyfairy

New Zealand says its borders are closed BUT they do have flights in and out still...necessary ones only of course. And that includes ppl who then do a managed isolation for two weeks. They are NOT flight free nor freight free.

I know a family that flew out there a few weeks ago for a funeral...so it's possible. Yes they needed visas, yes they quarantined, yes they got a flight. So technically they are not "closed"

Precisely.

NZ and Aus also have loads of inwards freight, all of it crewed, some of those crews living in-country. It's doable if we're willing

You really can’t compare NZ and Australia with the UK.

@Oliversmumsarmy

NZ and Aus also have loads of inwards freight, all of it crewed, some of those crews living in-country. It's doable if we're willing

You really can’t compare NZ and Australia with the UK.

Many Kiwis and Australians would agree, but the UK should still at least try to do better on this score.

@Oliversmumsarmy I am not comparing I am telling those that are "comparing" that if they think that NZ has closed all borders completely...it hasn't.

[quote freakyfairy]@Oliversmumsarmy I am not comparing I am telling those that are "comparing" that if they think that NZ has closed all borders completely...it hasn't.

[/quote]
Fair enough. Well whatever it "is" that they've done with the border I know what it is as I'm Kiwi let's do that.

That, rather than repeated lockdowns with open borders. Or abandon lockdowns altogether, one or the other, but not this ineffective hybrid bullshit that we're doing right now to maximum economic destruction.

How would I police it? I would treat people as adults for a start and base every communication on everyone doing their bit to help the effort against the virus.

Yes because that's worked well hasn't it?

Anyway. Once it became clear that schools would not re-open after Easter, I would have requested the DofE to liaise with Australia as to how we could operate something like their "School of the Air" using Zoom/Teams etc and, as mentioned by a pp, tv channels.