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Here’s a short thread on why a very salient point is being missed in the arguments on whether or not to impose a fresh national lockdown.
The purpose of a lockdown is not just to suppress the virus and keep the health system from being overwhelmed in the short term.
It’s also there to buy yourself time. To establish a robust test and trace system that can identify potential outbreaks before they happen.
It’s also there to buy yourself time. To establish a robust test and trace system that can identify potential outbreaks before they happen.
By any measure, the current test and trace system is a catastrophe. £12bn has been sunk into it and it’s barely functional, never mind “world-beating”. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-test-and-trace-still-plagued-by-serious-problems-say-staff-s2w509rcn
As well as keeping the healthcare system from being overwhelmed, when you come out of lockdown, there will be a backlog of non-Covid patients, such as those with cancer and chronic conditions that require long-term treatment.
Obviously, those patients can’t receive proper care in a lockdown. So you need to ensure that provisions are in place for them to be able to reliably access that care when lockdown eases.
The same goes for diagnoses.
The same goes for diagnoses.
Lockdown is also there to buy central government the time to synthesise and disseminate robust, clear and timely guidance for sectors that are planning to reopen.
In terms of guidance, schools received their reopening advice at 10pm on a Friday night, when they were due to reopen the following Monday. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-53960265
This is by no means an outlier. Just ask the clinically vulnerable, or anyone working in events, hospitality and universities whether the advice they’ve received to date has been clear and in good time.
The crux is this; whether you favour another national lockdown or not, the fact that we’re even having this argument in the first place represents a colossal failure on the part of government.
The people of this country have been intolerably abandoned.
The people of this country have been intolerably abandoned.
We all still need to do our part to cut transmission of this virus. And there are people who are not doing that. That goes without saying.
And personal responsibility of course plays a huge role.
And personal responsibility of course plays a huge role.
But we spent four months under strict national lockdown, with some parts of the country under for even longer.
We gave the government that time so they could get their house in order.
We gave them that time to make sure that when we reopened again, it was done safely and responsibly.
We gave them that time to ensure that there was any risk of a second full lockdown was minimal.
We gave them that time to make sure that when we reopened again, it was done safely and responsibly.
We gave them that time to ensure that there was any risk of a second full lockdown was minimal.
Instead, they squandered it with the cronyism of Dido Harding’s appointments at Test and Trace / National Institute for Health Protection.
They squandered it with corrupt procurement, awarding lucrative PPE supply contracts to party donors with no record in healthcare.
They squandered it with corrupt procurement, awarding lucrative PPE supply contracts to party donors with no record in healthcare.
They squandered it by urging everyone to get back out there and BUY, BUY, BUY, without ensuring that the sectors that were reopening had everything they needed to do so safely.
Don’t get me wrong; I value a robust economy as much as the next person.
But rushing your reopening and forcing businesses to spend millions making their premises Covid-secure, only to force them to close again because you weren’t ready to do it properly?
Shambolic.
But rushing your reopening and forcing businesses to spend millions making their premises Covid-secure, only to force them to close again because you weren’t ready to do it properly?
Shambolic.
These failings should alarm everyone, regardless of how you voted in the last election and regardless of whether or not you think a second lockdown is advisable.
The fact that this discussion is even on the table represents a spectacular failure on the part of government.
The fact that this discussion is even on the table represents a spectacular failure on the part of government.
This thread barely scratches the surface. But the government has shown us how it performs in a crisis.
And the results to date have been risible.
I would love to be proved wrong in the long-term. I want them to succeed and get this right. But the evidence so far isn’t good.
And the results to date have been risible.
I would love to be proved wrong in the long-term. I want them to succeed and get this right. But the evidence so far isn’t good.
