Airports

[saundra]

Why arn t airport in lockdown there are no health checks or advice to passengers either
Just read about it in the DM not the best of papers I know welcome to uk in lockdown

[cromwell]

It baffles me too Saundra, always has. People are just walking in, unchecked.

[Suff]

Theoretically, as we have the 6th highest number of cases in the world, anyone who comes to the UK, stands a higher chance of getting it in the UK rather than bringing it in.

Also we are supposed to be on lock down, so anyone who comes in should not be able to spread it.

Because we all know so few (or no), people infected (0.2% of our population) , we seem to to think that everyone coming in might infect us. In fact it is far more likely to be the other way round right now.

Once it starts to come under control, then it is time to start looking at who might be bringing more in.

The press and the media have done a perfectly crap job of communicating what is going on. They have, however, done a perfect job of rabble rousing, fear mongering and trouble causing.

Ably assisted by opposition politicians who insist the government releases plans to exit the lock down, for no other reason than to prove their legitimacy by insisting that the government plans are no good and that they have better plans. Of course if the government were to switch to those better plans and they failed, it would all be the fault of poor execution.

Much better to not buy a newspaper, ignore the online press and shut your eyes, put your fingers in your ears and hum very loudly when the news comes on. Or do what I do, use a news portal on the Web and only watch recorded TV or Netflix.

[saundra]

Suff you are so logical I know it's the media and tv that scare me but my brain doesent

[medsec222]

We all need this Government to succeed in bringing the virus under control and kick-starting the economy. It is in all our interests for it to do so, including the opposition Parties. However, I cannot understand what has been happening with the PPE equipment for the front line staff. Matt Hancock is continually telling the public that a shipment is expected 'tomorrow'. It is a shipment that never seems to arrive. Last night on Sky news it was reported that several UK firms had approached the Government offering to manufacture PPE for the NHS. Apparently they have not heard back. Another comment made was that PPE equipment being made in the UK was being exported to other countries, as the Government had expressed no interest in ordering it from them. I don't understand what is going on. It sounds like a complete mess which is taking far too long to sort out. I have no faith in Matt Hancock - he appears less able by the day.

[Workingman]

It is time to cut the government some slack, it only has an 80 seat majority after all.

It is not its fault that we are in a lockdown two to three weeks behind everyone else or that there are not enough ventilators or PPE for the NHS and care workers or that testing is still down below 20,000 per day, deaths are rising, and PHE is a waste of money.

That's all down to the media and the opposition. If it wasn't for them everything would be super normal and hunky-dory.

But not to worry, it will soon be May the 7th and 'Open day'. We can all get out and give everyone else a big hug, lots of kisses and go to the park for a picnic - weather permitting. Unless, of course, somebody knows of another plan.

There you have it - the truth according to some. No fake news hereabouts. Move on.

[Kaz]

We all need this Government to succeed in bringing the virus under control and kick-starting the economy. It is in all our interests for it to do so, including the opposition Parties. However, I cannot understand what has been happening with the PPE equipment for the front line staff. Matt Hancock is continually telling the public that a shipment is expected 'tomorrow'. It is a shipment that never seems to arrive. Last night on Sky news it was reported that several UK firms had approached the Government offering to manufacture PPE for the NHS. Apparently they have not heard back. Another comment made was that PPE equipment being made in the UK was being exported to other countries, as the Government had expressed no interest in ordering it from them. I don't understand what is going on. It sounds like a complete mess which is taking far too long to sort out. I have no faith in Matt Hancock - he appears less able by the day.

This! xx

[cromwell]

Meds, when the dust has settled I think it is a given that Hancock will be for the chop.
The PPE thing is a scandal for sure.
Why has the government had to appoint Paul Deighton as "PPE Tsar"?
Because the people whose responsibility it is to provide ppe cannot do the job that they are paid to do.
And that is Public Health England. From their wiki entry, PHE has responsibilty for (amongst other things) - Field epidemiology, including contact tracing
Contagious disease surveillance and control and Major incident response. PHE is an "executive agency" (read, quango) of the Department of Health.
I have already posted about their failure to reply to offers of help re testing from private labs.
PHE has an annual budget of £4.5 billion pounds. More than 240 staff are on six-figure salaries.
As far as I know they haven't even tried contact tracing, they have failed miserably re testing and overall in their handling of this infectious disease, Covid 19.
So knowing all that it's maybe easier to understand why the situation re ppe is so dire.

eta - The PHE's Chief Executive is Duncan Selbie. He is paid £185,000+. in May 2018 Mr Selbie made headlines for lecturing an NHS conference on the importance of exercise before claiming £5.90 on expenses to travel by taxi to a station less than a mile away.
From The Lancet 2013 "His appointment was not entirely expected, and he admits that public health is a new area for him. “I am that well known international expert”, he jokes. “You can fit my public health credentials on a postage stamp, but this is what I want to do for the next number of years because it matters so much.” Although he does not have a track record in public health, Selbie brings a depth of knowledge about the UK's National Health Service (NHS) to his new role".

Overall imo what the Covid 19 emergency has exposed more than anything else is the abysmal standard of management in the public sector, and also the lack of real world experience of our politicians.

[Suff]

Exactly Cromwell.

The sourcing for the NHS is a disaster zone. The government has provided the funding, the PHE has gone to the same old suppliers and just put in an order. Then taken the shipping date and given it to the government as carte blanche that it will happen.

If anyone is actually reading the numbers, Turkey is one of the hot zones right now, they have as much, or more, need of this kit as we do.

Then there is the whole situation, medical advice, professional advice, all given but then we have the regional governments who just do their own thing anyway.

As for lockdowns, we are 3 weeks behind Italy, France, Spain and Germany. So, assuming that other responses are correct, we locked down 3 weeks later. Oh the screaming, stamping and ranting if we had locked down 3 weeks earlier than anyone else, suffered similar levels of infections and deaths but crippled the economy in the process.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Weeks ago I was questioning the advice that medical staff should wear gloves and masks. They need full environment suits with full filtered face masks. Something that doesn't just rush off the shelves to you. What was PHE suggesting and ordering? Gowns and surgical masks. Washing hands would do the rest wouldn't it?

The NHS is like a battleship with a rudder from a sail boat. You don't turn it around and you don't change things in a few days or weeks. Once this is over heads will roll, but nobody is going to suddenly magic up protection equipment in a day or two. Opportunities lost, absolutely, after all they had all those exacting public order rounds to get the cheapest EU based product. Can't just change that now can we, dear god, the world would end. Never mind that the world is ending, these idiots will hold fast to the last no matter how much money is thrown at them.

But it's all Boris' fault. He got sick you see. Also he didn't chair the Cobra meetings, he delegated and expected his delegates to do as they were told and report truly. Once things were moving then he chaired the meetings. It's called management. The press doesn't like it and other politicians try to take advantage, but it's actually the way things are conducted.

But lets blame Boris for getting sick and we'll all be so much better off for it. Well at least someone will make money out of selling papers that say so.

Meanwhile this crisis will carry on, people will continue to die until the currently infected have run the course of the symptoms. Then it will start to tail off and we can move on, sensibly we would hope, but the events of the last month have proven that that is a false hope.

I shall continue to watch the numbers and ignore the vast majority of the so called news.

[cromwell]

Suff, I read the story of the man in England whose firm has a warehouse full of PPE. When he offered it to the government he was told to go to the government website, set up an account and fill in the forms.
At a time of national emergency, this won't do.
The army and NHS contractors got the Nightingale hospital set up in four days. PHE would take four weeks to set up a "multi agency" meeting with all "the relevant stakeholders".