Coronavirus and the response

[aggi]

The other coronavirus thread seems to be more debates about cases, death rates, stats, etc so I thought a less specific one about how the country is reacting may be interesting.

Personally my view is somewhat in the middle. Some things have been done right (although it's often taken a while to get there) and the economic response is generally good. Other things are seeming a bit like they're making things up as they go along though and it's not clear what some of the strategies are.

Things seem to be starting to unravel a little for the government though with a lot of the traditionally supportive papers like the Mail and even Johnson's mouthpiece the Telegraph starting to turn on the government.



It will be interesting to see if they manage to get them back on side any time soon.

Hopefully we can manage this thread without pointless bickering and points scoring and actually comment on the matter at hand.

[thatdberight]

Hopefully we can manage this thread without pointless bickering and points scoring and actually comment on the matter at hand.

I doubt that.

There's a long way to play out on this such as happens when you release lockdown and how long populations in the west are prepared to put up with lockdown. Those will be telling moments.

[CombatClaret]

This government had a time machine view into the future in Italy and it looks like we will suffer worse, unacceptable and unforgivable.

They were on the bridge of the Titanic watching the film 'Titanic' and decided changing course or slowing down wasn't required.

[Damo]

The other coronavirus thread seems to be more debates about cases, death rates, stats, etc so I thought a less specific one about how the country is reacting may be interesting.

Personally my view is somewhat in the middle. Some things have been done right (although it's often taken a while to get there) and the economic response is generally good. Other things are seeming a bit like they're making things up as they go along though and it's not clear what some of the strategies are.

Things seem to be starting to unravel a little for the government though with a lot of the traditionally supportive papers like the Mail and even Johnson's mouthpiece the Telegraph starting to turn on the government.



It will be interesting to see if they manage to get them back on side any time soon.

Hopefully we can manage this thread without pointless bickering and points scoring and actually comment on the matter at hand.

The very tone of this thread suggests it wont be free from bickering.
The usual suspects are posting misinformation on the other thread about the government response in a bid to score some cheap political points. Not sure why you think this one may be any different.
Personally I dont think this thread is needed

[THEWELLERNUT70]

Latest figures are showing that the UK and the USA have f##ked up with how things are progressing. We are now accelerating where others have seen a relative drop off over the same timescale

[Taffy on the wing]

Latest figures are showing that the UK and the USA have f##ked up with how things are progressing. We are now accelerating where others have seen a relative drop off over the same timescale

Entirely predictable........they waited until the last possible minute to react, but without any plans in place!
It is going to be a cluster ****.

[THEWELLERNUT70]

And another thing.

Me and the Mrs have been out on a mercy dash because one of the local care in the community schemes didn't have any PPE, so due to my wife's business being force closed they had aprons and gloves going spare which we dropped off for them.

Its basics and they really shouldn't be in short supply ffs

[Taffy on the wing]

And certainly not with Months of forewarning!..........Money is all that matters to Conservatives.

[Burnley1989]

I’m really not sure what Boris was supposed to do differently if he has listened to the advice of the experts, so for me it has nothing to do with politics and people can have their say in that at the next general election.

Let’s wait until it’s all over to discuss what did and didn’t go right and the lessons that can be learnt, arguing at this point achieves nothing and only adds to the stress everyone is under.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Genuinely sorry to say they appear to be making a complete mess of it.

[Zlatan]

Latest figures are showing that the UK and the USA have f##ked up with how things are progressing. We are now accelerating where others have seen a relative drop off over the same timescale

I’m not defending the government, but those countries who lockdown sooner may get a second peak, whereas we may not - in 12 months time after the post mortem on this, I know that they will claim things like that as a victory.

In terms of the response. The much publicised government deal with Sainsbury’s offering priority ordering for vulnerable customers appears to be utter rubbish. You can get an account if you’re in Scotland, Wales or NI - but if you reside in England you have to wait until the government pass on your details to Sainsbury’s after registering on the gov website. It’s another lie for publicity and it will bite them I’m sure.

[AndrewJB]

https://www.theguardian.com/society The Guardian’s take.

[TheFamilyCat]

I can't see this thread lasting to be honest.

There are too many people who only see genuine questions and concerns as loony lefty Boris bashing.

There also those who are all too quick to criticise the government (sometimes with incorrect facts) but tbf I think even those have praised some government actions.

Rational debate about it will be drowned out by blatantly biased fist banging I fear. I hope I'm wrong.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Possibly the case.
Economically I think they have done alright, obviously issues with self employed etc but it’s difficult to fit everyone.
The issues with the testing, PPE and Ventilators just seems to be chaotic and led by telling people what they want to hear rather than what is actually happening.

The changing of the story around the EU offer for Ventilators didn’t put them in a good light.

[Andreshotboots]

Haven't they said right from the start our cases and deaths would continue to increase up to and beyond Easter? That seems to be correct to me.

[TheFamilyCat]

We will only really know how well they did when this is finally under control. Even then we won't know for sure what the outcome of alternative courses of action may have been.

I'm more than happy to question a number of decisions but trying not to be too critical at this stage as it really doesn't help.

The opinion polls are interesting, although pretty pointless at this stage. I do wonder how many people aren't questioning the same things; maybe they are but are satisfied with the answers.

[Zlatan]

There also those who are all too quick to criticise the government (sometimes with incorrect facts) but tbf I think even those have praised some government actions.

Curious to find out which incorrect facts? Only asking because I know what I posted about Sainsburys is entirely factual and I can back it up with actual evidence in the form of correspondence with Sainsburys where they clearly state that they are waiting for the government to give them a list.

[TheFamilyCat]

Curious to find out which incorrect facts? Only asking because I know what I posted about Sainsburys is entirely factual and I can back it up with actual evidence in the form of correspondence with Sainsburys where they clearly state that they are waiting for the government to give them a list.

I was referring to the availability of chemicals for testing. That was retracted by the author but is still being repeated. Unless Peston was "got at" (cue sinister music).

[Bfcboyo]

Easy in hindsight but the whole world is to blame on this and China obviously top of the list for playing down the outbreak initially.

China should have been totally locked down straight away fron the rest of the world until information about the virus was made clear. All countries could have helped China financially and researchers should have been allowed in from across the globe . Chinas fear of losing financially is what caused them to play down the virus initially like most other countries and as they didn't contain this I think they should pay back to the world trillions of pounds in the form of a fine. In future something agreed and in place where countries would pay a fine based on economy , distributed to the rest of the world or to help certain global issues ie. climate change would make governments think twice about letting a virus spread. I hope the whole world will learn from this catastrophe that should have been stopped in its tracks and may kill a million people .

Most governments are doing their best some are doing very little (Brazil being a great concern) but I can't help blaming China for not being honest and containing the virus. The Wuhan whistleblower is the prime example of how they handled this.

[Ptangyangkipperbang]

On other social media sites I suspended people for 30 days for keep posting negative things when I'm trying to keep away from awful news and look to a bit of respite from it all.We all have our views and keep going over it time and time again will not do any good so it's goodbye from me for 30 days after seeing another bullshit thread

[TVC15]

NHS staff are being told that we will hit the peak on the 12th by which time it’s looking like we will be at the levels of Italy and Spain.
This of course could change but most of the experts are in agreement over this now relatively short term view of the situation.
It’s an absolute tragedy that is impacting so many lives.

These are unprecedented times and when it comes to the government they are literally in competition with other governments to try and save lives and when you have such a desperate situation there are always going to be winners and losers....it’s an impossible situation.

This government has made mistakes - I have said that from the start. Those mistakes have cost a lot of lives. If any other party would have been in power they may well have made the same mistakes (or more or less mistakes).
But that really is an irrelevant point and these mistakes are not political - it’s not like they were in the manifesto or they can be described as right or left wing mistakes.

But they are none the less mistakes and criticism and questions are inevitable when a government makes mistakes at any times but especially at a time like this.

Of course they are being advised by medical experts but that does not exonerate the government as there is very little any government does where they are not advised by experts or civil servants etc - nobody ever said leave the PM alone it was his chief economic advisers fault.

We have just got to hope and pray that there is some light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

[IanMcL]

And certainly not with Months of forewarning!..........Money is all that matters to Conservatives.

And awarding contracts to mates, under the guise of 'consortia'.

[Quickenthetempo]

I'm genuinely interested to hear peoples views on what the government should of done sooner?

Would the country have gone into lock down a month earlier with no reported cases?
I don't think they would considering the likes of window cleaners and other non essential jobs are still working (money needed/priority)
Cost of billions to the economy every day not functioning properly.

Order more PPE for the NHS?
I presume the high paid managers who purchase stock had the same warning?

Testing kits? The controversial one.
They decided most people could just get better at home by self isolating and not pass it on, if they had it or not wasn't really an issue. Serious cases would go to hospital anyhow.
Testing NHS or keyworkers would be beneficial but would they have to be tested after every shift or just the ones coming back into work who thought they had it?

I don't think we will be able to judge until it's over but It's a massive job they have got on their hands.

[IanMcL]

Clueless Politicians Cost Lives

[TVC15]

Oh and putting a temporary ban on opinion polls would be a positive measure IMHO.
They are pointless, distorted and often biased at the best of times but right now they are an utterly pointless distraction and an insult to the gravity of the situation.

[TVC15]

I'm genuinely interested to hear peoples views on what the government should of done sooner?

Would the country have gone into lock down a month earlier with no reported cases?
I don't think they would considering the likes of window cleaners and other non essential jobs are still working (money needed/priority)
Cost of billions to the economy every day not functioning properly.

Order more PPE for the NHS?
I presume the high paid managers who purchase stock had the same warning?

Testing kits? The controversial one.
They decided most people could just get better at home by self isolating and not pass it on, if they had it or not wasn't really an issue. Serious cases would go to hospital anyhow.
Testing NHS or keyworkers would be beneficial but would they have to be tested after every shift or just the ones coming back into work who thought they had it?

I don't think we will be able to judge until it's over but It's a massive job they have got on their hands.

Yes all those things.
If we would have not had the templates from other countries in front of us I agree that it would have been very difficult / impossible.
But we did and it’s very clear now that we should have made decisions sooner and quicker in all the things you mentioned
....and of course these are very difficult decisions that nobody would ever want to make.

Things like PPE for me are almost inexcusable mistakes made by the government. And this is a long long way from still being fixed and we are days away from hitting the peak so the lack of PPE is going to undoubtedly cost more lives - and that is a statistic that may never come to light.

[evensteadiereddie]

It's clear that the Government's pathological dislike of funding NHS resources responsibly, whether materials or humans, is now coming back to bite them - and us - on the arse.
Still, a bit of clapping tonight should make it all OK.

[Quickenthetempo]

Yes all those things.
If we would have not had the templates from other countries in front of us I agree that it would have been very difficult / impossible.
But we did and it’s very clear now that we should have made decisions sooner and quicker in all the things you mentioned
....and of course these are very difficult decisions that nobody would ever want to make.

Things like PPE for me are almost inexcusable mistakes made by the government. And this is a long long way from still being fixed and we are days away from hitting the peak so the lack of PPE is going to undoubtedly cost more lives - and that is a statistic that may never come to light.

Is it the governments job to order PPE though? The NHS is overloaded with management, why are they not being brought to task about shortages?

[evensteadiereddie]

I would imagine the managers were too busy trying to juggle insufficient resources to even consider how the hell they could buy PPE.

[Grumps]

The government had to be led by the scientific experts, any other way would have been plain stupid. Perhaps the experts were wrong, they may be proved right, but if Labour had won the election, surely they would have followed the same advice, wouldn't they?

[evensteadiereddie]

Perhaps but you'd hope, after ten/eleven years in government, they'd not left the NHS and its staff horrifically vulnerable.
We'll never know.
But the Tories have...

[TVC15]

Is it the governments job to order PPE though? The NHS is overloaded with management, why are they not being brought to task about shortages?

At times like this and with these kind of key decisions 100% it is down to the government to step in and drive this.
It would have been clear at a very early stage there was a shortage in PPE - and at this point it’s not down to the NHS to resolve....it’s the government’s issue rather than stand on a podium and tell the public they are on the way.

As for who should be brought to task about shortages that is a very different debate - and a political one. I know what my view is and it’s not the NHS who are at fault just like they are not fault for the shortage in nurses, doctors and every other resource.

[Devils_Advocate]

I'm genuinely interested to hear peoples views on what the government should of done sooner?

Would the country have gone into lock down a month earlier with no reported cases?
I don't think they would considering the likes of window cleaners and other non essential jobs are still working (money needed/priority)
Cost of billions to the economy every day not functioning properly.

Order more PPE for the NHS?
I presume the high paid managers who purchase stock had the same warning?

Testing kits? The controversial one.
They decided most people could just get better at home by self isolating and not pass it on, if they had it or not wasn't really an issue. Serious cases would go to hospital anyhow.
Testing NHS or keyworkers would be beneficial but would they have to be tested after every shift or just the ones coming back into work who thought they had it?

I don't think we will be able to judge until it's over but It's a massive job they have got on their hands.

Its a good question for a thread like this and happy to give my thoughts. This is just opinion at the moment based on a lot of different articles i've read and discussions ive observed and no way am I saying this is definitely the case.

For me the biggest mistake is that back in January Johnson and his advisers instincts seemed to be ideologically against harming the economy unnecessarily and being seen to be to authoritarian. As a result they were very slow to prepare and start serious planning on how they would manage it if the virus did spread fast and into the UK

You are right about lockdown as I dont think we could have done it a lot earlier because people wouldnt have accepted it until they believed the danger and seriousness. What I would say is my company started forcing people to work from home and a lot of people started seriously self isolating 2 weeks before Johnsons official lockdown speech. I think Johnson wanted to just give advice and people to make their own decisions rather than the govt making a definitive call. Johnson and the govt would have been hammered by one set of people or another no matter what decision they made but the key to strong leadership is still being prepared to make a decision and take the abuse. I dont think Johnson showed this and even when he locked us down some bits were left a bit up in the air and almost putting the responsibility on the businesses and people themselves to identify if they should be working or not

With regards testing I feel we could have done more earlier but even after reading a lot on this there is still too many variances and different factors so I dont really trust my own gut feel and opinion and will wait till there is more info after the event

Another criticism for me is around how in the early days the govt put out info through friendly newspapers or journalists quoting downing st sources. This made it really difficult for everyone to access the information and only referencing govt sources really made it hard to question and trust the info. The difference in terms of public awareness since they started the daily live press conferences has been massive

Finally as I've listed a lot of criticisms I would add that Sunak for me has done some brilliant work. Due to what I see (as outlined above) as a slow repsonse from the govt we really had to move fast with the budget and the economic measures to address the crisis. Again I've read quite a bit and where most ministers spend about 15-30 mins on the brief with the people in the background who do all the work I beleive Sunak is a real detail man and he rolled his sleeves up and worked through the full policy with his team and came up with many resolutions himself. This not only meant we got a really strong policy but it meant when he delivered it he did so with knowledge and confidence and for that was very impressive.

Finally to finish whilst I dont subscribe to this notion that every party would have had exactly the same advice and therefore done the same thing what I would say is any party or person in that position would undoubtedly made a lot of mistakes because with a crisis so big its impossible to get every decision right and for everything to go as expected.

Just to reiterate this is just my opinion based on what i've read and heard and by no means do I think ive understood everything fully and got everything correct but I can only say what I feel

[aggi]

What really prompted me to start the thread was I thought that the government wasn't doing great but I didn't think they were doing that badly for papers that generally support them to turn on them.

I was wondering whether that kind of sentiment was reflected on here with posters who are generally supportive of the government changing their view.

[jrgbfc]

When even the Daily Mail and the Telegraph are having a pop at the Tories it's a sign all is not well.

[TheFamilyCat]

When even the Daily Mail and the Telegraph are having a pop at the Tories it's a sign all is not well.

Although it has already been noted that they are pointless, it will be interesting to see how it affects the opinion polls.

[Burnley1989]

Its a good question for a thread like this and happy to give my thoughts. This is just opinion at the moment based on a lot of different articles i've read and discussions ive observed and no way am I saying this is definitely the case.

For me the biggest mistake is that back in January Johnson and his advisers instincts seemed to be ideologically against harming the economy unnecessarily and being seen to be to authoritarian. As a result they were very slow to prepare and start serious planning on how they would manage it if the virus did spread fast and into the UK

You are right about lockdown as I dont think we could have done it a lot earlier because people wouldnt have accepted it until they believed the danger and seriousness. What I would say is my company started forcing people to work from home and a lot of people started seriously self isolating 2 weeks before Johnsons official lockdown speech. I think Johnson wanted to just give advice and people to make their own decisions rather than the govt making a definitive call. Johnson and the govt would have been hammered by one set of people or another no matter what decision they made but the key to strong leadership is still being prepared to make a decision and take the abuse. I dont think Johnson showed this and even when he locked us down some bits were left a bit up in the air and almost putting the responsibility on the businesses and people themselves to identify if they should be working or not

With regards testing I feel we could have done more earlier but even after reading a lot on this there is still too many variances and different factors so I dont really trust my own gut feel and opinion and will wait till there is more info after the event

Another criticism for me is around how in the early days the govt put out info through friendly newspapers or journalists quoting downing st sources. This made it really difficult for everyone to access the information and only referencing govt sources really made it hard to question and trust the info. The difference in terms of public awareness since they started the daily live press conferences has been massive

Finally as I've listed a lot of criticisms I would add that Sunak for me has done some brilliant work. Due to what I see (as outlined above) as a slow repsonse from the govt we really had to move fast with the budget and the economic measures to address the crisis. Again I've read quite a bit and where most ministers spend about 15-30 mins on the brief with the people in the background who do all the work I beleive Sunak is a real detail man and he rolled his sleeves up and worked through the full policy with his team and came up with many resolutions himself. This not only meant we got a really strong policy but it meant when he delivered it he did so with knowledge and confidence and for that was very impressive.

Finally to finish whilst I dont subscribe to this notion that every party would have had exactly the same advice and therefore done the same thing what I would say is any party or person in that position would undoubtedly made a lot of mistakes because with a crisis so big its impossible to get every decision right and for everything to go as expected.

Just to reiterate this is just my opinion based on what i've read and heard and by no means do I think ive understood everything fully and got everything correct but I can only say what I feel

I’d agree with you on those points DA

[Quickenthetempo]

I would imagine the managers were too busy trying to juggle insufficient resources to even consider how the hell they could buy PPE.

You could say that about 99% of organisations and managers saying they need more money.

[TVC15]

You could say that about 99% of organisations and managers saying they need more money.

Yes you could but most of the other organisations are not there to save lives or care for people.

[aggi]

I'm genuinely interested to hear peoples views on what the government should of done sooner?

Would the country have gone into lock down a month earlier with no reported cases?
I don't think they would considering the likes of window cleaners and other non essential jobs are still working (money needed/priority)
Cost of billions to the economy every day not functioning properly.

Order more PPE for the NHS?
I presume the high paid managers who purchase stock had the same warning?

Testing kits? The controversial one.
They decided most people could just get better at home by self isolating and not pass it on, if they had it or not wasn't really an issue. Serious cases would go to hospital anyhow.
Testing NHS or keyworkers would be beneficial but would they have to be tested after every shift or just the ones coming back into work who thought they had it?

I don't think we will be able to judge until it's over but It's a massive job they have got on their hands.

Personally I feel that the encouragement to work from home where possible could have been stronger, earlier. My office could have started working from home a week or so earlier and, judging by how busy people told me the tube and bus was, a lot of others could have done the same.

The PPE is a difficult one as all countries are competing for similar items. There are obviously questions to be asked about the various changing stories that have come out about the EU procurement scheme. It seems there had been warnings as far back as 2016 that PPE and ventilators were areas where we'd be heavily exposed in the case of a pandemic but no action was taken.

As for testing, given that we are losing a lot of necessary keyworkers to isolation when they suspect, but don't know, they have it then I'd say a better testing regime would serve to increase capacity. Doing widescale testing like South Korea and using that to limit the spread would have been nice but I can accept we didn't have the resources for that.

[THEWELLERNUT70]

Its a good question for a thread like this and happy to give my thoughts. This is just opinion at the moment based on a lot of different articles i've read and discussions ive observed and no way am I saying this is definitely the case.

For me the biggest mistake is that back in January Johnson and his advisers instincts seemed to be ideologically against harming the economy unnecessarily and being seen to be to authoritarian. As a result they were very slow to prepare and start serious planning on how they would manage it if the virus did spread fast and into the UK

You are right about lockdown as I dont think we could have done it a lot earlier because people wouldnt have accepted it until they believed the danger and seriousness. What I would say is my company started forcing people to work from home and a lot of people started seriously self isolating 2 weeks before Johnsons official lockdown speech. I think Johnson wanted to just give advice and people to make their own decisions rather than the govt making a definitive call. Johnson and the govt would have been hammered by one set of people or another no matter what decision they made but the key to strong leadership is still being prepared to make a decision and take the abuse. I dont think Johnson showed this and even when he locked us down some bits were left a bit up in the air and almost putting the responsibility on the businesses and people themselves to identify if they should be working or not

With regards testing I feel we could have done more earlier but even after reading a lot on this there is still too many variances and different factors so I dont really trust my own gut feel and opinion and will wait till there is more info after the event

Another criticism for me is around how in the early days the govt put out info through friendly newspapers or journalists quoting downing st sources. This made it really difficult for everyone to access the information and only referencing govt sources really made it hard to question and trust the info. The difference in terms of public awareness since they started the daily live press conferences has been massive

Finally as I've listed a lot of criticisms I would add that Sunak for me has done some brilliant work. Due to what I see (as outlined above) as a slow repsonse from the govt we really had to move fast with the budget and the economic measures to address the crisis. Again I've read quite a bit and where most ministers spend about 15-30 mins on the brief with the people in the background who do all the work I beleive Sunak is a real detail man and he rolled his sleeves up and worked through the full policy with his team and came up with many resolutions himself. This not only meant we got a really strong policy but it meant when he delivered it he did so with knowledge and confidence and for that was very impressive.

Finally to finish whilst I dont subscribe to this notion that every party would have had exactly the same advice and therefore done the same thing what I would say is any party or person in that position would undoubtedly made a lot of mistakes because with a crisis so big its impossible to get every decision right and for everything to go as expected.

Just to reiterate this is just my opinion based on what i've read and heard and by no means do I think ive understood everything fully and got everything correct but I can only say what I feel

I've signed in just to like this excellent post from Devils Advocate

[AlargeClaret]

The dreadful quality of much of the management in the nhs isn’t helping at all. Right from low level to much of the upper echelons at least 70% of em wouldn’t even get employment in the private sector. The inter dept and inter trust squabbling and quite breathtaking incompetence within much of procurement has beggared belief .It’s almost as if emergency planning has been given to HR( with the resultant chaos,hysteria and helplessness you’d expect ) That’s not to say that the lack of readily available kit hasn’t made things very trying and some of the best have really stepped up to the plate ,which is just as well

[thatdberight]

What really prompted me to start the thread was I thought that the government wasn't doing great but I didn't think they were doing that badly for papers that generally support them to turn on them.

I was wondering whether that kind of sentiment was reflected on here with posters who are generally supportive of the government changing their view.

You came to the wrong place to get that kind of view.

[Inchy]

The lack of testing is a real worry of mine. A third of the team I work in are off isolating either because they, or relatives have symptoms.

One colleague is off with what sounds like covid. Her husband is a surgeon. Both of them are vital to fight this virus. Both of them are unable to be tested.


My son had a bit of a cough a couple of days ago. It’s nothing new he often coughs first thing in a morning. He’s only 3 so they are unable to diagnose but I suspect he has mild asthma. Fortunately he hasn’t been coughing since.

When he did start coughing my heart sank. Not because I was frightened he had the virus as I know young children are not at risk (much risk) but because I thought it would mean I would have to isolate for a minimum of 7 days.

I don’t want to isolate unless necessary. Firstly because I want to be at work, I want to be helping. Secondly, and selfishly, I don’t want to be stuck at home for 7 days with a 3 year old and a 1 year old.


We are on the upward trend and a quarter of medical staff are at home when many of them could be back at work.


We are going to struggle with this virus regardless however without adequate nursing and medical support it will likely be disastrous.

[Quickenthetempo]

Personally I feel that the encouragement to work from home where possible could have been stronger, earlier. My office could have started working from home a week or so earlier and, judging by how busy people told me the tube and bus was, a lot of others could have done the same.

The PPE is a difficult one as all countries are competing for similar items. There are obviously questions to be asked about the various changing stories that have come out about the EU procurement scheme. It seems there had been warnings as far back as 2016 that PPE and ventilators were areas where we'd be heavily exposed in the case of a pandemic but no action was taken.

As for testing, given that we are losing a lot of necessary keyworkers to isolation when they suspect, but don't know, they have it then I'd say a better testing regime would serve to increase capacity. Doing widescale testing like South Korea and using that to limit the spread would have been nice but I can accept we didn't have the resources for that.

It just highlights the fact we as human beings have flaws, in immediate danger we shouldn't need the government to force us to do things.

[Quickenthetempo]

The lack of testing is a real worry of mine. A third of the team in I work in are off isolating either because they, or relatives have symptoms.

One colleague is off with what sounds like covid. Her husband is a surgeon. Both of them are vital to fight this virus. Both of them are unable to be tested.


My son had a bit of a cough a couple of days ago. It’s nothing new he often coughs first thing in a morning. He’s only 3 so they are unable to diagnose but I suspect he has mild asthma. Fortunately he hasn’t been coughing since.

When he did start coughing my heart sank. Not because I was frightened he had the virus as I know young children are not at risk (much risk) but because I thought it would mean I would have to isolate for a minimum of 7 days.

I don’t want to isolate unless necessary. Firstly because I want to be at work, I want to be helping. Secondly, and selfishly, I don’t want to be stuck at home for 7 days with a 3 year old and a 1 year old.


We are on the upward trend and a quarter of medical staff are at home when many of them could be back at work.


We are going to struggle with this virus regardless however without adequate nursing and medical support it will likely be disastrous.

How would you test if they were unlimited Inchy? Every day, every staff member?

Be good to hear it from a NHS staff member point of view/

[Inchy]

How would you test if they were unlimited Inchy? Every day, every staff member?

Be good to hear it from a NHS staff member point of view/

As a minimum if my wife (who is also a nurse) or my kids started with symptoms I would want to be tested. If I’m negative I would isolate myself from my family by moving into a hotel for at least 7 days meaning I could still work. In an ideal world we would all be tested if one of us showed symptoms as it would mean my wife could continue to work if all negative. My wife is a nurse specialist in Parkinson’s. Although she provides a vital service we both agree that it’s more vital that I continue to work if someone needs to stay home with the kids as I work in critical care.

If tests were unlimited I would test staff who show symptoms. If they have it they stay at home, if they don’t they come to work.

[martin_p]

The dreadful quality of much of the management in the nhs isn’t helping at all. Right from low level to much of the upper echelons at least 70% of em wouldn’t even get employment in the private sector. The inter dept and inter trust squabbling and quite breathtaking incompetence within much of procurement has beggared belief .It’s almost as if emergency planning has been given to HR( with the resultant chaos,hysteria and helplessness you’d expect ) That’s not to say that the lack of readily available kit hasn’t made things very trying and some of the best have really stepped up to the plate ,which is just as well

I suspect more than 70% of them came from the private sector. The days of public servants in senior positions being public service ‘careerists’ are long gone.

[martin_p]

It just highlights the fact we as human beings have flaws, in immediate danger we shouldn't need the government to force us to do things.

But I think that’s one of the failings. The fairly mild messages coming from ‘government spokespeople’ didn’t emphasise the seriousness of the situation soon enough.

[Jakubclaret]

What really prompted me to start the thread was I thought that the government wasn't doing great but I didn't think they were doing that badly for papers that generally support them to turn on them.

I was wondering whether that kind of sentiment was reflected on here with posters who are generally supportive of the government changing their view.

It’s not a bad idea as a diversionary tactic, you can have 1 politically orientated on the government & whether the mistakes could have been avoided & whether they are doing the right thing & approaching & dealing with the issues correctly & the other just to discuss the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in terms of stats & cases & slowdowns or climbs, the other thread was getting far too congested politically & still is, some people just wish to discuss Covid-19 & nothing else.