So, the government and their media friends are deliberately misleading us!! I have seen the announcements, watched the News reports, read about a dozen newspaper articles… and the vast majority of these have served to MISLEAD THE PUBLIC!!
Following massive criticism of the government’s complete failure to test for Covid-19, the government’s major announcement today was that they have purchased 3.5 Million test kits. Leaving aside the matter that they are still undertaking tests to check if they work (let’s hope they do), the government and their obliging friends in the media have deliberately confused people and led them to believe the government are making great strides in testing – thus removing criticism. But the vital thing to understand (and looking around social media, it is absolutely clear that people have NOT understood this)….
THE TESTS ARE NOT TO SEE IF YOU HAVE THE VIRUS! THEY ARE TO SEE IF YOU HAVE HAD THE VIRUS AND CAN GO BACK TO WORK!!
Let me set the scene. Our government’s response to the virus has been very far away from an approach designed to save lives! If it was about saving lives, they would have been testing for the virus and contact tracing in the way that the World Health Organisation and the countries with experience of successfully fighting the virus have said is critical. The message was clear: “Testing, testing, testing!” The purpose of comprehensive testing? To obtain accurate data of cases, to understand the virus’ spread, to track the spread and to target resources at clusters and concentrations of cases. As the experts have said, otherwise you are “fighting a fire WEARING A BLINDFOLD!”
As of today, only 5-6,000 tests are being conducted per day here. This is PITIFUL!! The government have been saying for over a week now that testing was being ‘ramped up’, but it simply hasn’t been! It is still not their priority or arguably their intention to test adequately!
Today, the government said they plan to increase testing to 25,000 tests a day within four weeks! FOUR WEEKS!
As we know, the government have NOT been routinely testing people with the virus. At one point, their advice was ‘stay home, no need to contact anyone, no test!’ It is STILL exactly the same (except that now you should contact the NHS via their website…. but still no test!) We are still only testing once people are admitted to hospital with severe symptoms. This lack of testing is occurring alongside a government approach which has been widely criticised and, amongst other failings, slow and resistant to lock down and slow to close airports (there’s still flights landing from across the world and a total lack of testing arrivals or quarantining!)
And don’t forget, it was only the ENORMOUS GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC CRITICISM of the government’s ‘herd immunity’ (Johnson’s “let it pass through the population and take it on the chin” approach) that led to them changing this dangerous and irresponsible approach – at least, changing it officially and publicly, anyway!) The change in approach also only came after the science community’s repeated insistence that the government release the scientific modelling on which their approach had been based. Only then did the government say: “Oh, the science has changed and we need to change our approach!” Incidentally, did they ever release the earlier modelling on which they based their ‘herd immunity’ approach?!
In the US, it is abundantly clear that Trump is only interested in the economy and the Stock Market – fearing damage to each will harm his re-election prospects. As the virus is starting to devastate many cities in the US (New York, Washington, Los Angeles and New Orleans, in particular) and it is clear the death toll will almost certainly be rising for two months, Trump yesterday declared that “there’s light at the end of the tunnel!”
He added that he wants to lift restrictions within three weeks and “would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter. Wouldn’t it be great to have all of the churches full? You’ll have packed churches all over our country. I think it would be a beautiful time, and it’s just about the timeline that I think is right. I’m not sure that’s going to be the date, but I would like to aim it right at Easter Sunday.”
Worryingly, Trump said: “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself!” This translates as ‘we must put profits before lives!
Meanwhile, Republicans around the country plied the Trump line. The New York Times reported: “Donald Trump argued at the White House yesterday that the nation might have to accept drastic public-health consequences for the sake of economic growth. A few hours later, one of his Republican allies went quite a bit further down the same path. Dan Patrick, Texas’ Republican lieutenant governor, on Monday night suggested that he and other grandparents would be willing to risk their health and even lives in order for the United States to “get back to work” amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick said on Fox News.”
We know that the UK and US governments’ responses have been unlike most of the rest of the world (not following the WHO advice and that of other nations who have successfully fought the virus). Both countries have governments and leaders who may be regarded as Neoliberal ‘extremists’. It is clear that the priority is the economy and the stock market, not saving as many lives as possible.
Make no mistake, it is hugely important to have widespread use of the new tests that hopefully prove people have HAD the virus and can return to work. This can help the science in terms of understanding the virus and tracking its spread and it can obviously boost the economy. People will want to get back to work – and we will desperately need NHS workers to return to work if they have recovered! However, no-one knows yet exactly what level of immunity people have built to the virus, how long that immunity lasts and whether that immunity works for the various mutations of the virus that apparently already exist!
To me, the situation and the government’s priority is abundantly clear…..
Testing to see if you have the virus? Testing to follow the global science community’s strongest advice? TESTING WHICH WILL SAVE LIVES? 5-6,000 per day! Not even generally available for NHS workers!
Testing to see if you’ve HAD the virus, recovered and can therefore go back to work? 3.5 million ordered (even before they are confirmed as viable) and plans already in place to deliver to homes!!
I think we can see where the government’s priorities lie!
Tom Lane
