jackbarron
Chelsea, London
Above is what Richard Horton, the editor of The Lancet, has witten in The Guardian. He is a qualified surgeon and The Lancet is "among the world's oldest, most prestigious, and best known general medical journals."
"The warnings from China and Italy were loud and clear," he says. "But politicians and their advisers wasted valuable time – and lives will be lost as a result."
After what happened with Sars, the Chinese clamped down immediately when Covid-19 cases started coming through in Wuhan. They warned that the mortality rate was high and the virus had pandemic potential. People in China were dying from viral pneumonia brought on by Covid-19.
"But medical and scientific advisers to the UK government ignored their warnings. For unknown reasons they waited. And watched ...
"After weeks of inaction, the government announced a sudden U-turn on Monday, declaring that new modelling by scientists at Imperial College had convinced them to change their initial plans.
"Many journalists, led by the BBC, reported that “the science had changed” and so the government had responded accordingly. But this interpretation of events is wrong. The science has been the same since January. What changed is that government advisers at last understood what had really taken place in China."
Richard Horton says when the system returns to normal difficult questions will have to be asked. The UK can't afford to fail again, because we may not have a second chance.
I'd argue the Covid-19 pandemic is a political issue around the world as much a health one. Trump calling it the Chinese virus today is an example.
So is the way Johnson and his government have been handling it, given how slow they have been to clamp down or test in face of evidence from around the world.
The Tory government are giving £316 billion in loans and grants to save businesses, but they still haven't come up with a solution for the many who have already lost their jobs.
£73 a week on Universal Credit and £94 on sickness benefit won't go very far. It also takes six weeks to get Universal Credit.
That's the reaity of what the Tory Party, Labour and the Lib-Dems, have left us with.
Jack
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Teachers actually only get paid for the days they work, their salary doesn’t cover holidays. In actuality they may be able to roster teachers some time off if the number of kids in school drops. Let’s be honest, no one is going to jump for joy at having holidays taken off them.
