Why now and why the U.K.?

[Whipituntilitpeaks]

Probably being completely thick here but is it simply because it’s winter, that cases are higher? How does that explain Brazil though?
Also, why has the U.K. been so badly hit?

First of all don't forget the uk does more genone sequencing than anywhere else in the world. So if a new strain was going to be identified, it had a good chance of being identified in the UK.

They back traced the variant and found it had been present in September by the way.

But I guess a more popular answer would be: BECAUSE TORIES!!!!1

Why the UK? Because the covid response was poorly handled from the start then massively overcomplicated by u-turn after u-turn and ever increasingly complicated rules with nonsensical exceptions. That's not to mention the underlying issues of years of austerity and cuts to public services, education, health, and social care that meant these sectors struggled to cope. The elderly and vulnerable were essentially sacrificed to save the NHS in the early days when infectious patients were discharged back to care homes, seeding the infection into the community. And don't get me fucking started on the pile-o-shite that was Eat Out To Help Out.

Brazil because huge pockets of poverty incorporating cramped living accommodation etc. Poor provision of healthcare relative to other countries.

Because we got a highly transmitted variant; because we have an unhealthy elderly population; because we're fairly packed in here; because Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world.

Because nobody is taking it seriously and everyone is doing exactly as they please would be my guess. I ran into a friend the other day who had a colleague with her who had flown in from the US, he said that he can’t believe how much people on the UK are disregarding the rules. He said he assumed the UK would be taking it more seriously than the US but they aren’t at all. Madness.

The UK is a small area with high population, and some very large towns. Public transport can be very crowded, as can shopping centres, pubs, sports grounds. All these factors may have helped the virus spread.

Border control appears lax over the last year, and quarantine measures for arrivals voluntary instead of compulsory.

There may have been poor decisions and poor quality people in charge (E.g. Dido Harding, of Test and Trace).

But vaccination does seem to be going well, so maybe there is some hope.

Well currently Spain, Portgual, Ireland and Czechia are outdoing us in cases at the moment and we do far more testing and have one of the widest definition of covid related deaths, so it really isn't at all why has the U.K been badly hit.

People saying the UK should have followed x country earlier on with loads of hindsight, despite x country now going through the same problems are people who are chasing headlines and not applying any criticial thinking.

And the colleague from the US needed to fly in because he's such a very important person?

Because our healthcare is so good, it means people are alive when in other countries they would be dead.
We are a place with large populations within small spaces, allowing this virus to jump from host to host.

@Whythesadface

Because our healthcare is so good, it means people are alive when in other countries they would be dead. We are a place with large populations within small spaces, allowing this virus to jump from host to host.

I agree with this. It's ironic that because our healthcare system is so good, our figures appear 'worse' than a country where a 90 year old with diabetes was already dead.

Why AIBU and not the Coronavirus board is another question we could be asking. So on the basis that you posted on AIBU then Yes YABU for posting in AIBU.

YABU for starting yet another thread about why it is so bad here when it is patently obvious.

Because our healthcare is so good, it means people are alive when in other countries they would be dead.
We are a place with large populations within small spaces, allowing this virus to jump from host to host.

We also are applying one the widest definitions for death via covid in europe apart from Belgium, there is no uniform stat and many vairables that the people trying to compare numbers are going to struggle when they can't pin the blame on the Tories.

Haha love the colleague (sorry, friend of a colleague) story of them jetting in from the US (huge fucking country) making a sweeping and massively generalised statement about the uk (what, he visited every part of the uk in his little visit that he probably shouldn’t have been making?) well hold the front page of we have some hard facts here!

Almost as bad as those COVID deniers on Twitter saying my mates got a mate whos got a second cousin twice removed who works for the nhs and they said the wards are empty so it’s a scam

No closing of borders

No enforcement of masks

Token enforcement of other rules with people not paying fines anyway Track and trace farce etc etc

@Ginevere

Because nobody is taking it seriously and everyone is doing exactly as they please would be my guess. I ran into a friend the other day who had a colleague with her who had flown in from the US, he said that he can’t believe how much people on the UK are disregarding the rules. He said he assumed the UK would be taking it more seriously than the US but they aren’t at all. Madness.

I have a friend who is adamant it's "just a bad cold", deletes anyone from Facebook who argues with her, and is constantly arranging playdates with different people on Facebook. She also keeps boasting about how she is living her life as normal and still seeing family and friends. It's this sort of attitude that is making it so bad.

@Glitterblue - but there'll be twats like that in most countries (except the superstrict eastern ones) so that shouldn't contribute to the difference

Because we locked down too late
Because we opened up things like pubs to early
Because eat out to help out (there were crowds everywhere)
Because we are an unhealthy nation with high levels of obesity
Because our test and trace procedures were awful, we don't even test close contacts of known cases even now
Because our rules weren't as strict as similar countries in Europe where you needed a permit to leave your house and at the peak weren't allowed outside for exercise
Because for some inexplicable reason we have people who don't understand the rules, don't care about the rules or don't think the rules apply to them. The compliance with mask wearing, social distancing etc is extremely poor. We have a 'the government can't tell me what to do' mentality which is weird when the government is literally trying to stop us killing each other.
Population density is a factor but not as much as cultural values - look at Japan they have a very elderly population (along with Italy the oldest in the world) and an extremely high population density and much lower cases than ours.
Covid death reporting definitions doesnr matter now, there is enough data just to compare excess deaths by country so reporting procedures are irrelevant and the UK does not fare well

One possible theory is that chronically ill patients treated with experimental therapies like convalescent plasma donated by recovered patients, survived for longer, giving the virus a breeding ground to multiply and mutate. Another theory is that the sheer levels of the virus in the UK allowed it to mutute.

Because our rules weren't as strict as similar countries in Europe where you needed a permit to leave your house and at the peak weren't allowed outside for exercise

Disregarding your other headline talking points, I would like to pick up on this and ask why is Spain doing badly?

Covid death reporting definitions doesnr matter now, there is enough data just to compare excess deaths by country so reporting procedures are irrelevant and the UK does not fare well

So you want to cherry pick data and just use hyperbole to pretend you know why, I would like to see what data illiminates the covid definitions and puts it at a 1:1 scale that still put us on top, here is a hint you can't.

One possible theory is that chronically ill patients treated with experimental therapies like convalescent plasma donated by recovered patients, survived for longer, giving the virus a breeding ground to multiply and mutate. Another theory is that the sheer levels of the virus in the UK allowed it to mutute.

The scientific community that have genome sequenced the 'UK' variant has highlighted that it most likely came from migrant farm workers in Spain, but hey, keep pumping out these facebook theories instead of actually looking for the actual more reliable facts.

Someone please point to proof that SD compliance in UK is "extremely poor"- not anecdote.

Trains & buses are almost empty where I live - no crowds anywhere since March 2020.

I don't think we are just carrying on as normal - everything is shut, so we couldn't even if we were inclined to!
I think our problem was not closing the borders. No point in being careful, while letting in people from all over the world and not forcing isolation for 14 days. And the selfish fuckers who couldn't do without their summer holiday for one year.
The govt ignored the levels we were supposed to get down to before opening up again - they didn't go down fast enough so they seemingly took a 'fuck it' approach and allowed eat out to help out etc.

Interesting thread.

It's a case of damned if we do and danned if we dont.

People on MN saying we should have shut the borders earlier. Can you imagine if the Governent had done that in March and the outcry on Mumsnet about racism?

Similarly about enforced masks. Every thread on MN on the matter results in people shouting "disablist" because of the large numbers of people in this country who "cannot" wear a mask.

Do people think that the Chinese Government give a shiny shit about someone feeling traumatised in a mask?

There's your answer. Eradicating a virus requires the erosion of civil rights and this country isn't at this stage (yet).

Why the UK? Because we're packing a lot of people into a small area. Transmission relies on close contact, the UK has a large population for its size. Compare space per person to death rates, and the UK is actually doing well.

The UK also has a very diverse population, and we know that BAMEs are more likely to get ill.

I dont think "eat out" had much to do with it. Cases started going up massively when schools went back in sept the weather changes and the new variant accelerated this. Then Xmas hit and busier shops in dec people mixing inside when they shouldn't was the main issue. I haven't been inside my parent house for 5 weeks now but I'm pretty sure there are plenty that have.