Yesterday Britain passed a grim milestone. A further 1,631 deaths from Covid-19 were recorded, taking the official tally above 100,000, though data from the Office for National Statistics suggests the total number will now be nearer 120,000. In a briefing, Boris Johnson has said his government did everything it could to minimise the loss of life, but these deaths were far from inevitable. While the number of UK deaths has entered the hundreds of thousands, New Zealand has recorded only 25 deaths from Covid-19 so far. Taiwan has recorded seven, Australia 909, Finland 655, Norway 550 and Singapore 29. These countries have largely returned to normal daily life.
In the first year of the pandemic, the UK faced three big challenges. Our national government had no long-term strategy for suppressing the virus beyond a continual cycle of lockdowns. Even now we still don’t know what the government’s plans for the next six months are. In the early days of the pandemic, the UK treated Covid-19 like a bad flu. The government halted testing, and the initial plan seemed to be allow the virus to run unchecked through the population (the “herd immunity” approach). Finally, ministers have pitted the economy against public health, instead of realising that the health of the economy depends upon a healthy population.
Those in the anti-lockdown camp mistakenly believe that we could have traded these deaths for a “normal life” and a strong economy. Yet this isn’t how Covid has played out in any country in the world. Either you reopen the economy before the virus is under control, and endure thousands of deaths, or you manage your public health problem before getting the economy going again...
...While it is easy to be consumed by anger, grief, frustration and depression at this moment, we must keep looking forward for a path through this crisis. We must never have a winter like this again, and we need a concrete plan and strategy to make sure Britain does not face a third wave and a fourth lockdown. This must involve suppressing transmission, building a functioning test, trace, isolate and support system, guarding against the reimportation of infections with strict travel restrictions, while trying to reopen schools and as much of the domestic economy as possible...
In the land of the free and the home of the brave
ReplyDeleteIn order to impede the pandemic shock wave
We must adopt a new paradigm perspective
And accept the fact that freedom is collective.