Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
The Government has made some huge errors.
They assumed they could control the rate of infection, and flatten/steepen the curve at will.
They assumed only the old/frail/those with significant pre-existing conditions would die, and that the public would accept this, as long as it was not because of the NHS being "full".
They assumed the NHS limitations were beds and ventilators, not realising that apparently simple things like PPE could be crucial.
Not wanting the NHS to be full, they decided to make sure that those in care who did get admitted to hospital were discharged ASAP, without Covid testing, assuming care homes could cope.
The result has been thousands of unnecessary deaths.
And I have not touched on the years of underfunding of the NHS, of the Care sector, and of the people, particularly the nurses, that work in them.
And the scramble for ventilators, PPE, tests for Covid RNA and Covid antibodies, and a vaccine, shows that when it comes to the crunch globalisation does not work, and that Brexit will be a disaster. We need to cooperate with our European neighbours to sort out these issues.
I don't think history will look kindly on those currently in office.
A question that's been asked by many. What should the Government have done? Ignored the advise of the CMO, CSO and their teams?

According to the press conferences I heard when they were resisting the closure of schools etc in Mid March, they felt they could push back the curve to buy time for the NHS to prepare. They also thought they could flatten the peak.
Neither means less deaths, they postpone them. Perhaps a few more can be saved if the NHS is better prepared.

Is it for the Govt in a hands-on way to manage PPE?

Is it for the Govt to intervene in the testing? They are having to do it as Public Health England seem resistant to using private sector capacity.

I sense institutional resistance is a factor.