Stay alert, control the bullshit, save lives.
Hello, yes it's me again. I've been away for a while; because each time I tried to write anything I started feeling insecure and unqualified to write about the subject. But now, seeing how BJ is handling the pandemic and is still being his own super-fan, I feel slightly better about myself.
Firstly, disease transmission must be controlled. The R0 number is now estimated to be around 0.7, which is brilliant, however, this fails to take into account the current outbreak of care homes and the lack of testing taking place in the UK. Although it appears like new cases are decreasing, looking at the data from March until now, it is clear that there are peaks and troughs of new daily cases. On 6th May there were 6,111 new cases, which is close to the 6,199 that there were on 5th April.
Next, WHO recommends detecting, testing, isolating and treating every case, as well as tracing all possible contact with each case. Again, we have an issue with testing, there are just not enough tests available. The care minister, Helen Whately said that there will 'soon' be capacity for 30,000 daily tests for care home residents and staff, although she did not specify how long 'soon' will be.
Moreover, the lack of PPE (personal protective equipment, which we should all know by now, given how many times the government has been asked about it) is putting more people at risk. All you have to do is search PPE UK to see the extent of the problem, there is not enough to go around. Or is there? At least 36 UK firms have offered to produce or sell already made PPE to the government and have been ignored, according to the Labour party, and yet the government have ordered and subsequently returned PPE from a Turkish businessman
Lastly, the country needs to be fully educated, engaged and empowered to live in the 'new normal'. I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing the term 'new normal', what does it even mean? Well, it looks like the 2m social distancing rule will stay in place for the foreseeable future and public transport will start to run a full service, although capacity will be one tenth of what it was. Restaurants, cafes and pubs may be able to reopen, given that they follow social distancing, this has already been announced in other countries. Schools are looking at options for classes to restart, but with social distancing, pupils may have to adhere to a rota system for lessons. The phrase 'social bubble' has been used by several politicians, including Nicola Sturgeon, who has suggested allowing people to visit a small, fixed group of people outdoors. Details should be made clear today (10th May 2020) by the Prime Minister, and should be made explicit before any removal of restrictions.
It is clear that it is too early to remove restrictions entirely, but why may the government want to lift lock-down prematurely? Many of the top benefactors of the Conservative party are calling for the lock-down to end, to save the economy. The government rely on large donations and continued support from business people to remain in power, so they must listen to suggestions. By lowering furlough support and lifting restrictions on workplace closures, the government can 'gently' push staff back to work, to ensure that the businesses stay afloat. I'm not saying that the government does not care about the people, I'm merely suggesting that they care about the economy more than the welfare of it's citizens.
Whatever the announcement, it is important that we use our common sense and help to keep each other safe. It has been heartwarming to see what we can achieve when we pull together and the response of front line workers has been incredible. We need to continue to work as a community and think of others while we try to muddle our way through. It's a weird time, but we can make it through together- at a distance, of course.
This week we have seen an increasing number of news outlets claiming that the government are going to start releasing us from 'lock-down'. Although the government has advised us to be cautious of this claim and have stated that changes will be minor, with headlines such as The Daily Mail's "Hurrah! Lockdown freedom beckons", it is easy to see why people are confused.
Should restrictions be eased yet? While the governments five tests are a start, I'd like to look instead to the World Health Organisation's six tests that they suggest should be met before the end of lock-down.
 |
| The Government's informative slogan for Covid-19 |
Next, WHO recommends detecting, testing, isolating and treating every case, as well as tracing all possible contact with each case. Again, we have an issue with testing, there are just not enough tests available. The care minister, Helen Whately said that there will 'soon' be capacity for 30,000 daily tests for care home residents and staff, although she did not specify how long 'soon' will be.
Looking at tracing, the new tracking app is being rolled out in the Isle of Wight and is set to be ready for UK wide use within a couple of weeks. It has faced backlash from the parliamentary committee who specialise in human rights, claiming that the government has refused to fix privacy rights around the app into law. This lack of commitment to privacy is partly to blame for 48% of polled Britons saying that they would not download the app, experts state that 60% of the population would need to use it for it to be effective. Additionally, delays in test results decrease the ability to track and trace contacts efficiently, leading to potentially more infections. The app is already seeing problems during the testing phase, it does not work on iPhone or Samsung phones that are over two years old and is incompatible with Huawei.
The third test is that outbreaks are minimised in hot-spots. As mentioned previously, care homes are seeing worryingly high numbers of Covid-19 and a lack of testing is fuelling that fire. According to the Heath Foundation, care homes are seeing the biggest increase in Covid-19 infections since the outbreak began and the number of deaths from all causes have increased 220% in this time.
Moreover, the lack of PPE (personal protective equipment, which we should all know by now, given how many times the government has been asked about it) is putting more people at risk. All you have to do is search PPE UK to see the extent of the problem, there is not enough to go around. Or is there? At least 36 UK firms have offered to produce or sell already made PPE to the government and have been ignored, according to the Labour party, and yet the government have ordered and subsequently returned PPE from a Turkish businessman
 |
| Two pieces of PPE according to Tories |
Fourthly, preventative measures should be put in place for workplaces, schools and other essential places. Government guidance on this has been pretty clear, to give them credit: if possible, you should work from home. However, there are many people who cannot work from home and their workplace is not open, for which the furlough scheme has been welcomed by businesses. Nevertheless, the government have decided that they are going to reduce the payments from 80% to 60%, on account of recipients being 'addicted'. This reduction of the scheme will push workers back into work, even if it is not safe for them to return, as it is doubtful that the majority of people could survive on 60% of their wage packet.
Workplaces themselves are keen to get back up and running, as the longer they are closed, the more money they are loosing. Although given guidance, it is up to managers to put restrictions in place for their workforce, ensuring they are as safe as possible. It would be lovely to assume that all bosses will put the welfare of staff as the top priority, it is obvious that this will not be the case, as already shown by Amazon and meat plant workers.
Workplaces themselves are keen to get back up and running, as the longer they are closed, the more money they are loosing. Although given guidance, it is up to managers to put restrictions in place for their workforce, ensuring they are as safe as possible. It would be lovely to assume that all bosses will put the welfare of staff as the top priority, it is obvious that this will not be the case, as already shown by Amazon and meat plant workers.
Fifth, import risks must be managed. The UK has not closed it's borders to incoming passengers, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock estimating that 105,000 people arrive per week. These travellers are not screened for temperature or symptoms and are, as of yet, not required to self-isolate. Now the government has announced that they are to implement a scheme requiring arrivals to the UK to isolate at a given, private residence for 14 days starting at the end of May. The issue here is that it is too little, too late, most countries put screening and self-isolation into place right at the start; instead only 273 of the 18.1 million people who arrived in the UK before lock-down were quarantined.
 |
| Socially distanced queue |
It is clear that it is too early to remove restrictions entirely, but why may the government want to lift lock-down prematurely? Many of the top benefactors of the Conservative party are calling for the lock-down to end, to save the economy. The government rely on large donations and continued support from business people to remain in power, so they must listen to suggestions. By lowering furlough support and lifting restrictions on workplace closures, the government can 'gently' push staff back to work, to ensure that the businesses stay afloat. I'm not saying that the government does not care about the people, I'm merely suggesting that they care about the economy more than the welfare of it's citizens.
Whatever the announcement, it is important that we use our common sense and help to keep each other safe. It has been heartwarming to see what we can achieve when we pull together and the response of front line workers has been incredible. We need to continue to work as a community and think of others while we try to muddle our way through. It's a weird time, but we can make it through together- at a distance, of course.
Comments
Post a Comment