Ýep, no doubt about it Boris was a dick . Italy were quick to react, starting local quarantine areas so soon, no doubt saved many lives, but their health services were still overwhelmed. We were lucky in that the Italian epidemic arrived with a bang whilst ours spluttered at the start. Yet I think that lulled Boris into a sense of false security, possibly his advisors too - although we will likely have to wait for the briefing papers release in the future through freedom of information request, public inquiry or under the 30 year rule to find out for sure. The upshot was, Boris wasted the precious 2 weeks reaction time we had and that cost thousands of lives. No, we didn't ban flights from China, although some airlines did off their own bat and that undoubtedly helped us a little. Yet there is no doubt that, despite the UK index cases being China related, the UK epidemic was seeded from European contact. New Zealand's handling of their epidemic was great, but not initially as quick as we seem to think after their first case, but they did then escalate rapidly to national lockdown. Their first case was reported on 28th February 2020 but the borders and entry ports weren't closed to non-residents until 20th March*, they introduced a 4 tier containment system on 21st March, went to tier 3 on 23rd March then they went into a national lockdown on 25th March. Sounds similar to Italy and not too different to the UK. But notice the asterisk on 20th March. Although they closed their borders to all non residents on 20th March, New Zealand had reacted for arrivals from China even before they had cases. On 3rd February, New Zealand banned entry of foreigners from, or who had travelled through, mainland China. This bought NZ some time to act and was relaxed on 7th Feb when arrivals from or via China had to register with NZ Healthline for a 14-day self-isolation (this was extended to cover Iran on 28th Feb). Crucially though, returning New Zealanders only had to self-isolate for a 14 days and never needed to register with NZ Healthline. Despite them having grown up with biosecurity measures at entry ports to protect the isolated and unique native ecosystem, it is evident that some kiwis didn't self isolate properly and they were the cause of the other NZ cases. I would guess that it was the fact that biosecurity measures were already a part of the New Zealand psyche that predisposed them to a rapid response. But not having Boris in charge must have helped too!
His 'Princess Diana moment', when he went unmasked into Covid wards, shaking endless hands, is bound to have infected/killed someone. It's enough that he did it himself, was infected and almost died, but it gave the public the worst possible message. Human contact is the only way to contract the virus ... ... ffs, it couldn't be any simpler could it.
Except that now they are increasingly considering Covid to be transmissible (via respiratory micro droplet aerosol) indoors at much greater than 2m and for quite a while after the person has left the area. Thus you can be infected by someone from greater than 2m or who occupied an area before you were even there! The large droplets generated when talking, sneezing or coughing have a particle size of more than 5 um and don't quickly dry out so they stay heavy enough to fall to the floor within seconds, hence the transmission limit of 2m. Respiratory micro droplet aerosol is that moisture normally generated whilst breathing. The particle size is less than 5 um and typically these droplets dry out very quickly, so lose almost all of their mass. The result is that the virus can remain suspended in the air for up to a number of hours in a poorly ventilated area indoors (the exact time depends on how long the person was in that area to start with). CDC in the United States updated their guidance about this back at the start of October https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/scientific-brief-sars-cov-2.html
Whatever the case mate, it's people moving around, and crossing paths, that transmits the virus. Failing to wear a mask and wash your hands, as well as doing everything you can to avoid people, greatly increases your risk. The message at the start was 'let's all get out there and fight this virus together' ... ... that looked brave but it was sadly wrong.
There's an automated response to this question. "It doesn't matter who else could have done better and this has got nothing to do with Jeremy Corbyn. It's Boris Johnson who is in charge and that is all that matters, everything else is irrelevant and therefore it's pointless discussing it"
Boris could've handled it better ... ... that's the point. He's made some errors that could only be seen in hindsight, but others that were only errors because he dithered so long. They were the right decisions but he was indecisive so they became another thing to ratchet up the death toll. The Christmas situation was ridiculous and has contributed to the current situation. I notice today he was in Manchester telling everyone to stay at home unless your journey is essential ... ... presumably photo opportunities count as essential.
Which is the standard response, Straight out of Keir Starmers notebook, fact is nobody knows the answer. All that can possibly come out of this dreadful scenario is that the world learns from its mistakes and more importantly leaders from all political backgrounds pull together for the sake of the populations that they serve instead of using the deaths of 100s of thousands of people as a platform to push their political agenda.
I may be wrong but listening to BBC2 this morning and it was discussed that Christmas has not actually caused the numbers to spike. Yes he has dithered but he is also responsible for the vaccine rollout while the rest of the world is dithering. That in itself is a bold move and was rolled out as quickly as possible.
Yeah I think you may be wrong. They were saying the lockdown hasn't reduced figures, it's made them worse. The vaccine is great news and the PM deserves credit ... ... but he has to take the rough with the smooth and accept criticism where it's due. I'm not saying any other country has been better than us, just saying we could've handled it better.
So in other words the question you put was hypothetical, and hypothesis such as saying "ah well it would have been worse under Corbyn" is absolutely pointless as it did not, can not and will not happen. Boris Johnson is the Prime Minister. He ran for office and won. Nobody forced him to do that. He wanted the job. The buck stops with Bonko simple as that. And 90,000+ deaths and counting says all that you need to know about what sort of job he is doing in handling this crisis.
Never mentioned it being worse under anybody else, I asked who could have done a better job, you couldnt answer either because nobody knows. As for Corbyn I have no idea why you brought him into it, that crackpot is demanding that we give vaccines away to other nations before sorting our own problem out 1st.
As a percentage, or rather by deaths per 100,000 of population, Belgium, Slovenia, Italy and the Czech Republic are (or were as of 17th Jan) doing worse than us. The whole debate surrounding 'would someone else have handled it better' is pointless. Its just another thing that causes division when we least need it. 'Its all Boris's fault that 90,000 people have died' is too simplistic a statement. There are numerous factors that have lead to this situation, some of which are due to political decision making, some of which are due to geographical, demographic, and cultural factors. A slight difference in any one of those things and this all might have played out differently.
I very much doubt that Corbyn did say that, but hey it was on Faecesbook so it must be true eh! But putting that aside, Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer, Tony Blair and even his wife Cherie have all at different times been used on here as an excuse for the piss poor "leadership" of Boris Johnson. Deflection tactics simple as.
As Bonko is PM, the question is how have we compared to other countries, hospitalisation, deaths, economy etc.. from what I can tell from various metrics we compare poorly. What could have been done.. Well they could have followed their own playbook set out in the Cygnet exercise..have a stockpile of PPE, have oxygen aspirator etc, protect care homes, close down borders, lockdown quickly and have an effective test and trace. Then be consistent and simple in messages to the public.... ho ho ho Get ahead of the wave rather than than reacting and dithering too late. If Bonko was a surfer he would have never caught a wave.. Probably Bonko should have not have been shaking hands at Twickenham/hospitals and the Cheltenham Racing festival should have been stopped. As many folk wages/salaries was taking a nose dive, Bonko and chums could have followed the NZ PM and taken a pay cut for the duration. The cock-up and dithering over Christmas was incredible, nothing had been learnt from the previous 9 months. Schools open/ closed etc complete muddle... promised laptops have not appeared. A flow test for Covid 19 was mooted, the medics have said the test is rubbish.. so this may not happen Apparently Bonko is reluctant to have a review on the handling of the pandemic....I wonder why
