The UK response to Covid-19 [MOD WARNING 1ST POST]

theological wrote: »

The number of recorded cases both on the KCL Zoe COVID tracker (which is pretty accurate) and the testing figures are both declining. This means that the spread is reducing nationwide which doesn't happen if the R is 1 or above.

We were told in middle of last month that r rate was between 0.5 and 0.9 and that it was 0.4 in London. Now it's between 0.7 and 0.9 and 0.8 - 1 in London. It's gone up on their estimates. Numbers of infections can still decline but more slowly and growing risk they'll start going the wrong way.

Most people in diff countries have bought in when given a uniform consistent message. didn't get that from either the politicians or some medical professionals in England. This results in deaths.
The only element of the message in Ireland that wasn't absolutely clear, because of diff opinions, was around face masks. This has resulted in the public not buying in and complying.
That proves that a single coherent message is the key. Politicians in England own that.

Deleted User wrote: »

I agree this is an issue of late lockdown. I do also think that there is a cultural piece at play as well, in the the UK, along with the US, very much favour the individual over society and, as a result, the lockdown (light as it was) broke down quite early, leading to a long tail to the curve

Exactly. The lockdown wasn't a lockdown, it was a joke.

How else can you explain how cases continued to be at a high level, despite the fact that nobody was supposed to be out, or seeing anyone? There was little to no enforcement by the weak police - instead, the entire responsibility was put onto the public.

The entire way through the lockdown, I saw groups of people hanging around the park near my house, groups of ethnic minority men hanging around on the street who shouted racism if the police came near them. There was absolutely no control by the police at all. The few times I did go out, I was never stopped or asked where I was going. Compare that to Spain where people literally got fined for walking a couple of blocks too far with their dog and outside exercise was totally banned.

Lockdowns only work if they're short and strict. The entire aim is to just keep everyone inside so the virus has nowhere to go and cases drop right down to almost nothing. What's happened here has just been prolonged misery. An endless stretch of bad news and f*ck ups. How else can we possibly be still getting death numbers in the triple figures after 12 weeks? It's astonishingly, appallingly bad.

People were willing to comply at the beginning because it was supposed to be short term pain for long term gain. Everyone was looking forward to how amazing it would be when everything went back to normal in the summer and they could get their lives back. We're now nearly halfway through June and the cases are still at a level where there is a very real risk. People are just fed up and don't care anymore. Even the most responsible and diligent people I know here are pretty much doing whatever they want now. You just can't maintain this situation indefinitely the way they are doing.

A proper, strict 4-6 week lockdown from early March where everyone had to just suck it up and stay in unless it was an emergency would have saved thousands of lives and probably also the economy. They instead chose to p1ss around, waste precious time and then when they did lock down (way too late), it was a joke.

That's why.

It's both amusing and unnerving that on the train to work (in a busy part of England) there are probably about 10 other people on the whole 12 carriage train yet when I get into the town 2 minutes down the street the supermarkets are crammed, people are queing up for Starbucks takeaway, and lockdown is a thing of the distant past. Like two different worlds.

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I'm still in total disbelief that so many people failed to understand this.

Keep in mind that supposedly only 22% of UK adults have GCSE Grade 'C' numeracy.

fr336 wrote: »

If there was any justice in this world the Tories would be well and truly demolished at the next election. Not only have they failed horrifically in terms of deaths, which is just one of those things for Tories, but it's looking as if they've crashed the economy as a result of their rank incompetence. They could have gone into a lockdown, even a light one, a week earlier. Two weeks earlier. They dithered and delayed. They talked about poxy Brexit. They looked down on the EU countries and those around the world taking it seriously. Hell even Trump's America were starting to get their arses in gear BEFORE the UK - yes, Trump's America!

Lucky for them, the election is four years away. Plenty of time to tell the people who were there certain things never happened and they'll happily vote for them again. If Johnson, Hancock and co had any shame, hell not even shame just some nerve to take responsibility for their actions, they'd resign before the year is out. They've failed in a government's most basic purpose - keeping its public safe. They've also destroyed the economy in the process. What if the point of the Tories if not the economy?

I'm not sure they can recover from the current calamity. I could see them being like Fianna Fáil 2011 when the next election comes and get completely obliterated - they will have been in power for 14-15 years at that point.

BonnieSituation wrote: »

There's no way they make near a full term.

If there's no election by 2022 I'll eat my hat.

I predict Johnson will be gone within 12-18 months and I doubt his successor can save them. Many good people were forced out of the party and the Brexit Ultras are still a big force.

PommieBast wrote: »

Keep in mind that supposedly only 22% of UK adults have GCSE Grade 'C' numeracy.

I can well believe it, but any time I bring up how poor the UK education system is on Boards, I'm called a bigot and asked why don't I go home to Ireland.

I genuinely think it's one of the worst systems in Europe and the main reason people keep electing idiots and voting for ridiculous things. I've met plenty of people who went to schools which would be considered decent by English standards who know absolutely nothing at all about Ireland or Northern Ireland. People my age (mid thirties) who have never heard of the Troubles. No knowledge at all about slavery or Britain's colonial past. No idea how many countries or which countries are in the EU. Can't use 'their', 'they're' and 'there' properly. Can't speak any foreign languages because the government decided they were useless and stopped requiring them at GCSE level. Can barely do the most basic maths (shop assistant I met this week had to get a calculator out to work out 75% of £20 and my old flatmate, in a £60K a year job, didn't understand that '1 in 5' and 20% are the same thing).

They love to look down on eastern Europeans, but your average educated Pole or Romanian would blow them out of the water. They also love to mock us Irish for being thick paddies, despite all the Irish people I know over here being very well educated and informed about history and current affairs. I think the UK is going to have a very nasty shock after Brexit. I see Boris is already begging Europeans to return and work here. Why would they?

where is this 22% coming from? based on last year ~70% got a grade 4 and above , 4 is a standard pass

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gcse-results-2019-mathematics/

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I would imagine the percentage is lower based on the entire population rather than just those who did the exam last year.

GCSE Maths is ridiculously easy these days. Look at some past papers online - a lot of countries do that maths at 10-11 years old. I imagine it was much harder to get a passing grade 20 years ago.

In the PISA rankings (aged 15/16), Ireland was ahead of the UK by 12 points - 518 to 514 for reading ability. The UK led Ireland in maths 502 to 500 and in science 505 to 496.

Interestingly, we beat the sh1te out of them when it came to Irish.

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

It's been pretty much proven at this stage that masks help reduce transmission significantly. So why in the name of God is it not mandatory to wear them in all public places?

It makes my skin crawl when I go to the pharmacy to pick up my medication and the pharmacist is just standing there without a mask, having been exposed to God knows how many people that day.

Every other country, pretty much, has insisted on masks and made it socially unacceptable not to wear them. As a result, they're all getting back to normal. This government is throwing money at all sorts of pointless measures and keeping the lockdown going because the British are apparently too special to wear masks and take some basic hygiene precautions.

Yeah that never happened, definitely calling bull on that ridiculous claim.