One reading of this is that government scientists saw a catastrophe looming, but because they couldn't communicate it in terms of a governmentality, they kept it to themselves https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-path-speci-idUSKBN21P1VF

"As they watched China impose its lockdown, the British scientists assumed that such drastic actions would never be acceptable in a democracy like the UK. Among those modelling the outbreak, such stringent counter-measures were not, at first, examined."

One question this raises is: do scientists dare to say to a politician “here’s what’s happening, but I have no idea what you can do about it”

It’s also where having a mild version of Trump in power, who believed charm counts for more than facts, wouldnt help in terms of giving advisors the confidence to communicate unwelcome information. (The Chernobyl analogy)