Christopher Titmuss Dharma Blog

Covid-19:

UK: 371,125 infected people so far in 2020

UK: Total number of deaths so far in 2020: 41,637.

UK: Ranked 14th in the world in numbers of infected people out of more than 200 countries

UK: 2^nd highest number of deaths among European nations.

UK: 2^nd highest number of deaths among European nations per 1 million of population.

The British Government continues to generate nationwide confusion as it flip-flops on important policies concerning the Covid-19.

CovidConfusion-19 rules the UK with a Prime Minister and the rest of government way out of its depth.

The government has failed miserably to fulfil its primary role to support the needs of society. Decision making needs to be in the hands of local authorities/public service officials/hospitals/clinics/local medical scientists/local leaders etc.

Let local communities address mind/body health and environment. The current system of centralised authority consists of leaders who introduce legislation on a whim, engage in endless u-turns and endlessly defending the indefensible.

The government constantly claims to ‘follow the science.’ We do not know what the science is. The science varies between scientists and between countries.  Around 30 million wordwide have caught Covid-19 in eight months. Nearly one million have died.

The mental/physical health condition of millions of UK citizens has significantly deteriorated in 2020 due to national and international obsession with Covid-19. Science cannot provide us with an overview of the general health of the nation when excessive priority goes to one virus, which leads to widespread neglect in every other area of mental/physical health.

Widespread public outrage, as well as the weight of medical science and voices of public health officials, forced many of the changes  to government policy.

Here are 18 examples of switches, u-turns and public confusion around Coronavirus policy in the last seven months

1. March 2020. Government dropped mass testing and contact tracing to pursue ‘herd immunity’ strategy. Epidemic of sickness and death in UK forces government to change its policy to lock down and public quarantine.
2. Late March 2020. Government ordered country to stay at home except for essential travel, such as food and essential household items. Boris Johnson’s chief advisor Dominic Cummings made a 600-kilometre round car journey to visit his family when the rest of the country could not even visit sick parents in nearby hospitals or homes for the aged.
3. March 2020. Government introduced two metre social distancing rule. Policy dropped.  In July, policy  changed to one metre plus.
4. March 2020. As Coronavirus spread worldwide, government said it would not quarantine passengers arriving from overseas. Around 18 million passengers flew into UK in first three months of the year with 273 passengers isolated. Covid-19 spread in UK due to arrivals from Italy, Spain, China and other countries. Policy dropped. In June, all arrivals had to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Policy changed. Then UK government introduced new rules for certain visitors.
5. April 2020. Government promised ‘world-beating; App for contact tracing designed by NHS. Government abandoned homegrown App and switched to Apple/Google.
6. April 2020. Government grants permission for families who lose a loved one to Covid-19 while working in NHS to remain in the country – except care workers, porters and cleaners. Policy dropped against such workers the following month.
7. May 2020. Government said Immigrant doctors in NHS would have to pay an immigration health surcharge of £624.00 if sick from October 2020 instead of £400. Policy dropped.
8. May 2020 Leader of House of Commons said proxy votes, due to social distancing rules, would not be permitted in Parliament. Decision dropped.
9. May 2020. Government announced students would return to school for four weeks before summer holidays. Policy dropped following month.
10. May 2020. Government claimed masks had no little or no effect in stopping the spread of coronavirus. Policy dropped. The following month government compelled people to wear facemasks on all forms of public transport.
11. June 2020. Government announced no free school meals for children during summer holidays. Policy dropped. Government changed its mind after public campaign and appeal of Manchester United footballer, Marcus Rashford.
12. July 2020. Government rejected use of compulsory face masks in shops. Policy dropped. Government then made face masks mandatory.
13. August 2020. Government said it would not change its policy to use algorithms to decide A Levels results. The results revised downwards nearly 40 per cent of grades given by teachers – due to cancellation of exams. Policy dropped.  Algorithms policy abandoned as it discriminated against poor families in poor  districts revealed in postal code areas.
14. August 2020. Refusal to extend ban on landlord’s power of eviction. Government extends ban by four weeks.
15. August 2020. No plans to introduce masks in secondary school. Masks then made mandatory.
16. September 2020. Government proposes to breach international law by redrafting the legally binding Brexit agreement with the EU made in late 2019. A common response: If the government ignores international law, then why should citizens respect laws around quarantine, face masks and social distancing.
17. September 2020. In May, Boris Johnson told the country that the UK will have a ‘world-beating’ system to trace 10,000 corona-virus cases per day ready by 1 June. In September, hospitals and school find themselves dealing  with a crippled testing system. Vital staff in public services have to stay at home while trying to find somewhere to get tested for their symptoms or their children.
18. Laboratories unable to cope with influx of samples for testing. More than 200,000 people waiting for results of their tests. Websites crash. Families have to drive more than 150 kilometres to get a test.

Meanwhile the privileged elite in Britain  have permission to go grouse-shooting on the moors in Britain while the government only permits a maximum to six people to meet together – apart from a handful of important exceptions, such as emergencies, mental health issues, courts, funerals etc.

Dear Prime Minister and Government Ministers,

Please resign.

Hand over all public health issues to those with first hand knowledge and experience of local needs.

Out of compassion for UK citizens.

Yours truly

Christopher Titmuss