If you’re confused about what’s right and wrong in how different governments are responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, the answer to the following question is a good indicator of whether they’re doing an excellent job or making a complete mess of it: How many people have died?
In the UK, today, 3 May 2020, 6 minutes ago as I write this, the BBC reported that there are now more than 186,000 confirmed cases in the UK and 28,446 people with the virus who have died. It’s unclear whether that includes only those who have died in hospitals or also those who have died in care homes and in their own homes.
In contrast, Taiwan, with a third of the UK’s population, and among the first countries to be hit by the virus, but has done everything right to keep the population safe, they have had only 436 confirmed cases and 6 deaths. That’s how shockingly badly we are doing in the UK.
Here are two examples of recent truth-telling articles about this picture:
The Intercept, Boris Johnson’s Coronavirus Lies are Killing Britons, by Sonia Faleiro, 30 April 2020
The Lowdown Why bypass NHS labs for mass testing? Concerns over new super-labs, by the NHS Support Federation, 27 April 2020
The Intercept article explains what has been done wrong. The NHS Support Federation Lowdown article gives an example of the deviousness of the UK government’s response. The NHS saved Boris Johnson’s life and this is how he shows his gratitude — he still hasn’t provided 37% of them with personal protection equipment (PPE). And he has completely ignored and failed to implement the World Health Organization’s advice from Day One — testing of everyone with symptoms, contact tracing of everyone who tests positive, and quarantine in hospital of everyone who tests positive.
On 28 March 2020, the editor of the Lancet journals, Richard Horton, called for the entire Public Health England to resign when this is over. I support that, but why wait? A number of frontline health workers talked to the Guardian, published 18 April 2020, about refusing to work without PPE because of the high risk to their lives. I supported that in a letter published by the Guardian soon after. The government told them to shut up. The Intercept article calls for Boris Johnson and the whole government to resign because of the mass slaughter they have allowed to happen. I support that call too.
On Thursdays, don’t just clap for the NHS, also write to your MP — call for immediate provision of personal protective equipment for all NHS health workers, all social care workers, all auxiliary workers — but above all senior frontline staff and all frontline nurses. Call for mass testing and contact tracing with quarantine, not next week, not next year but today. Because we still have no idea how many people in the UK have Covid-19. Let’s not find out the hard way by watching deaths rise again when lockdown is eased.
And please share this blog. 3 May 2020