THREAD 1/5 Superb report on UK much of which could be applied word-for-word to the pre-March French situation: Special Report: Johnson listened to his scientists about coronavirus - but they were slow to sound the alarm | Article [AMP] | Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-path-speci-idUSKBN21P1VF

Both countries have similar populations & centralised top-down healthcare systems. Both had well-developed pandemic plans (largely related to interhuman transmission of H5N1 avian flu). Having been involved on the French version, I agree with the assessment that these plans...2/4

...were close to what we have been going through. People who now say this couldn't have been foreseen are wrong: it was. But we failed to maintain adequate stocks of PPE (France built up a stockpile early on but didn't renew it) & both failed dismally in our testing strategy 3/4

In both countries, the tapping of scientific expertise was appropriately systematic but too narrowly focused. Once a disease becomes a pandemic, understanding it has as much to do with the social sciences (incl intl relations) as it does with virology, medecine or health care 4/5

I understand the UK scientists' assumption that home confinement wasn't practicable. Indeed, ditto in French H5N1 pandemic planning. But such judgment calls properly belong to political leaders (hopefully with advice from social scientists) not to the health care community 5/5