The Government’s Handling of the Pandemic Was A Disaster — And It Isn’t Getting Any Better
How much more incompetence can we take?
It’s no secret that the UK government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic poorly from the start. Rules were introduced too late to stop the spread, and Thursday nights spent clapping for the NHS were all well and good but decent funding would have been better. Over half of the British public feel that the NS was not managed well, and 70% think the government failed to prevent the virus from spreading. In fact, the only area that they seem to have succeeded is in vaccine rollout, but even that is only at a 61% approval rate, not an inspiring figure (Yougov). The UK was doomed from the start, and things are only getting worse. According to the government coronavirus website, the past week has shown an increase of 15.1% in positive COVID cases and an 8.5% increase in deaths from the virus, and yet we have been repeatedly assured that there will be no further lockdowns, that restrictions will only be loosened further, that we will all be back to our pre-pandemic lives soon. How, then, does Boris Johnson expect to stop the spread?
Who’s to blame?
The difficulty is that the government are not the only ones who aren’t putting full effort into protecting the public. Across Kent, many towns are reporting that 33–50% of people have stopped wearing face coverings (Kent Online), and this figure is supported by the Office of National Statistics, which shows that over a third of people were not planning to continue wearing masks once the restrictions were lifted back in August. Furthermore, despite the general faith in the vaccine program, up to 20% of people don’t want to take a COVID vaccination. The reasons for this are many and varied, but the effect is the same: fewer vaccines means less herd immunity, fewer masks means more transmissions, and together that means COVID-19 won’t be going anywhere soon.
How can you protect yourself when others won’t?
First and foremost, get the vaccine if you are able to do so. Equally, if you aren’t medically exempt, keep wearing a mask. Although its primary purpose is to protect others, there is some evidence that the thicker, medical-grade masks can protect you from catching the virus. You might also opt for online food delivery over physically going to the supermarket, where it is often crowded and there’s no way to know how many other people have touched the item you’re picking up. All of these are fairly easy choices to make, but there are some more difficult ones. Throughout the pandemic and especially in the earlier lockdowns, there was a great deal of emphasis on keeping connected to other people and combatting loneliness, and now that the entertainment industry is opening up again, many people want to resume socialising in person, whether that be in a restaurant or crowded nightclub. It is still safer to avoid these places, as social distancing is difficult and even one positive case can spread rapidly over a single evening. Unfortunately, for some people it isn’t as easy as simply refusing to go out, as being alone can be detrimental to their mental health and instead they have to choose between their physical or emotional health. From an economic point of view, it is just as difficult. People who were furloughed during lockdown are now needing to go to work, where they are likely to encounter lots of people in a potentially cramped area. For these people, the choice is between keeping their family safe from COVID or putting food on the table.
What should be done?
Certainly, the public has a role to play. We can’t clap away coronavirus like it’s a mosquito, but we can all do our part to help the NHS by continuing to follow the non-compulsory restriction rules where we are able to do so. The lion’s share of the responsibility, however, falls on our government. They need to stop making wishy-washy promises to placate the public frustration and start taking action. The last two years have shown us that waiting until things are so bad that they cannot be ignored doesn’t work and isn’t a sustainable way to run a country. If they want to avoid another full-blown lockdown, masks and social distancing should be made compulsory for those who can do so, and more support should be given to the chronically understaffed and underfunded NHS. This isn’t something that will just blow over in a few more weeks, so why prolong the inevitable? 70% of the public already think they’ve failed, and if things don’t change, that number will only increase. How many people does Boris Johnson plan to disappoint, or worse, allow to die, through his incompetence?
References:
coronavirus.data. 2021. Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK. [online] Available at: <https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/easy_read> [Accessed 18 October 2021].
Ibbetson, C., 2021. How is government handling the COVID-19 pandemic? | YouGov. [online] Yougov.co.uk. Available at: <https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/01/21/what-do-britons-think-governments-handling-covid-1> [Accessed 18 October 2021].
Kent Online. 2021. Are people still wearing face masks?. [online] Available at: <https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/county-divided-over-wearing-facemasks-251742/> [Accessed 18 October 2021].
Ons.gov.uk. 2021. Two-thirds of adults still plan to wear masks in shops and on public transport — Office for National Statistics. [online] Available at: <https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandwellbeing/articles/twothirdsofadultsstillplantowearmasksinshopsandonpublictransport/2021-07-16> [Accessed 18 October 2021].
Robson, D., 2021. Why some people don’t want a Covid-19 vaccine. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210720-the-complexities-of-vaccine-hesitancy> [Accessed 18 October 2021].
