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148 people died from Covid in the UK yesterday. 147 of them in England.
In Taiwan, another densely-populated island, they've had 7 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Their last was on the 11th May.
Theyâre playing baseball while we're still paying people not to work. #Marr https://twitter.com/BaseballBrit/status/1281906634835591169
In Taiwan, another densely-populated island, they've had 7 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Their last was on the 11th May.
Theyâre playing baseball while we're still paying people not to work. #Marr https://twitter.com/BaseballBrit/status/1281906634835591169
Taiwan is significantly more densely populated than the UK (673 folks per Km2 versus 281), is similarly urbanised (78.9% of the population is urban versus 83.2%) and has an older population (a median age of 42.5 years versus 40.5 years for the UK).
So why the discrepancy?
So why the discrepancy?
I cannot be due to cultural reasons, because other countries in the "West" have had similar success to Taiwan in stamping out the virus. Not only fellow island nations like New Zealand (below) but also several countries right here in Europe. https://twitter.com/AdamWJT/status/1272172914662690817?s=19
No, the factor that has the biggest impact on a country's outbreak is the speed (and scale) of their intervention in the exponentially skyward trajectory of the virus's spread. Makes sense, no? https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1249821596199596034?s=19
England is in the predicament it's in because the UK Government imposed lockdown when the virus was already out of control (literallyâit stopped TTI altogether because the epidemic was overwhelming its resources. Maybe that would have been a good time to lock down, lads?)...
...And because the Government released lockdown too early (see below). Instead of having the discipline to aim for a zero-Covid Britain, which would allow us to reopen *everything*, they're is bribing us with ÂŁ10 vouchers for Nando's. And they're still paying folks not to work.
None of thisâthe months-long furlough scheme, the 1m+ rule, the prolonged school closures, the PPE shortages, the care home epidemicâwas inevitable. None of it needed to happen. They are the consequence of Government demogoguery, incompetence and inaction. This is now clear.
The media must do a better job of scrutinising the Government on this. Instead of lauding the scale of the Chancellor's interventions, they should be asking why interventions of such scale are necessary in the first place.
As voters and taxpayers, we should expect and demand such scrutiny.
