Dominic C Covid evidence 2

[Newtonianmechanics]

New thread for if old fills up.

I agree. And Johnson just keeps lying about it.

My goodness, that was full on from Andy.

I'm don't know Steve Rotheram, mayor for Liverpool, but I'm going to assume he is going to have similar issues.

Video clip from Andy Burnham

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1729161163831710195?t=oC41Y9Yo-QSB8ys_ZtoqJw&s=19

Andy Burnham, "In June 2020 we asked for patient identifiable data"

Dermot Keating, "It was refused?"

AB, "Yes.. In the covid legislation that was passed in early March, covid19 was added to the list of notifiable diseases.. And yet this new outsourced test and trace system said they didn't have to give us this data.. We had to show them the law they had passed"

DK, "Why was the data important?"

AB, "Lockdown had been lifted too early and we had a high case rate. Many residents were in jobs where they couldn't get sick pay.. The difference between the test and trace system and what we wanted to do, was locally run contact tracing.. The national center was making calls that nobody was answering and we wanted the data so we could knock on doors.. We said to the gov that local contact tracing would be more effective than a national contact center" @AndyBurnhamGM #CovidInquiry

I know a bit about him through football and family living there, he seems very passionate and involved about local people and issues.

We weren't informed, says Rotheram

Rotheram says he was not informed people from Wuhan would be isolating in the area.

"People who came from Wuhan to isolate and go to Arrow Park Hospital came through many areas and ended up in the Liverpool City region and we weren't even informed that these people were going to travel through our area or end up in a hospital environment being isolated", he says.

He says he found out about it "on the news" with no communication in advance, adding: "That seems to be the way things were conducted early on."

You would have thought Johnson would have welcomed the Metropolitan mayors at the Cobra meetings especially as Burnham was Health Secretary during swine flu. Whilst swine flu turned out not to be as serious, this wasn’t apparent at the time.

Asked about Liverpool City region going into tier 3 on 12 October, Rotherham says that Johnson announced it without informing him.

All hell broke lose on twitter and he needed security because of threats made to him

Asked whether he thought at the time that the match should have gone ahead, Rotheram says: "We had no scientific evidence to support that we were concerned about it, but had the goverment said it should not go ahead, I think everyone would have breathed a sigh of relief."

Thsi seems like the right thread for this sad state of affairs . As we commented the Long Covid stories and groups have even been sidelined in the blogs and reports on the enquiry. My school completely lost a young and talented colleague to long Covid. Has never returned to work. No doubt the government has plans for him...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66998448

Michael Gove and Jenny Harries today

Based on what's been happening, I'll be surprised if Jenny will have time to give evidence today.

She was meant to give evidence last week, but everything overran with Vallance, Whiity and Van Tan.

I have a feeling that it's going to take ages to get Gove to answer questions. So poor Jenny might not get an opportunity to give her evidence today.

How is Gove going to manage the whole day without his, erm, little pick-me-ups?

I'll be keeping my eye on him and his speed & style of delivery after the breaks ...

Gove already annoying me.

He's obsessed with reforming things instead of just getting on with some bloody useful projects.

Video clip attached to tweet

https://x.com/danielgoyal/status/1729446788187472075?s=20

Gove was the lead for the Cabinet Office during the initial phase of the pandemic. Here he is saying it was not fit for purpose. This is massive. And in terms of culpability, lays much of the blame for the terrible UK response at the door of the Cabinet Office.

Too busy preparing for a no deal Brexit

Well, he's rehearsed his lines, I'll give him that.

Hugo raised his eyebrows at Gove then at his mention of 'evidence'. Probably because we heard already, more than once, that emerging evidence did nothing to change Downing Street's decision-making?

Ah yes, here we go.

He says the Johnson government delivered Brexit well, and delivered the vaccine roll-out well.

Yep, well rehearsed lines

Christ, this is delusional. He can't possibly believe all this nonsense, can he?

"assertive personalities" what does that even mean in this context

Raving lunatics on white powder and brandy

"On the one side, but on the other"

Government wasn't prepared enough for a pandemic but the virus might well have been man made

We did our best guv, don't blame us vibes

And back again to the "British people wouldn't follow the rules of lockdown" excuse

Got to do something else for a while

Key takeaway: Gove lists pandemic response areas in which he believes gov't failed:

Locked down too late in March 2020
Insufficient action in October 2020
Wrong strategy on testing
Not enough focus on vulnearble
Wrong PPE procurement