(02-05-2021, 01:50 AM)Aractus Wrote:(02-04-2021, 09:25 AM)TonyAnkle Wrote:(02-04-2021, 09:10 AM)Aractus Wrote: That is forward-thinking and proactive. Although the UK has totally failed to control the pandemic.
Yeah, it's a pity that our government were not so proactive this time last year, I remember one of the scientific advisors saying that if deaths could be kept below 20,000 that would be a good result... Here we are 12 months later with a death toll of 100,000 plus.
The two things that the UK has done well are in 1. handling Brexit and negotiating international trade deals, and 2. the Covid-19 vaccines. They did much better than the rest of Europe with securing a nice variety of vaccines in good quantities. Their national vaccination program is going well also. However they should not be relying on the vaccines to control the virus as there's no evidence yet that the vaccines can provide herd immunity - they prevent the disease they don't stop you catching the virus itself.
They've done very badly at their response to the pandemic, and as they are effectively an island-nation they should have been able to get the virus under control much more easily. Same goes for Ireland.
They're also in total denial about their ineptitude, and clapping for the NHS doesn't do a thing to change that.
There is another thread if you want to congratulate our government on their handling of Brexit, I'm going to stick to the topic in hand.
Cast your mind back to the time when the UK had a small number of confirmed cases. We had options at that point. What happened was that our government went for the herd immunity option, knowing full well that there would be a large amount of deaths in the oldest and most vulnerable section of our society. They were hoping for less than 20,000.
It soon became apparent that that number was pie in the sky...
What happened next? They realised that letting elderly people return to care homes straight out of hospital would be flagged up in a public enquiry, so they put a stopper on that, but far too late. They noticed that the silent spreaders were still allowed to congregate in vast maskless numbers in schools and colleges, so they 'advised against it'. They noticed that the rest of Europe had locked down so they eventually followed suit. All the while with one eye on getting back to normal and making up for the money lost.
One mistake after another, month after month, it's an absolute disgrace.
