Johnson 'reckless' in easing lockdown before Varadkar, expert says | World news | The G... - 0 views
-
Earlier this month Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach, and Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, each faced a fraught dilemma. Coronavirus infection rates were falling and the economic devastation from lockdowns was rising
-
Varadkar extended Ireland’s lockdown to 18 May. Johnson rolled the dice and began to unlock – at least for England, while Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland stuck with the “stay home” recommendation.
-
There was another stark difference. Ireland started lifting lockdown only after testing and contact-tracing systems were fully scaled up. England took the plunge before its systems were ready.
- ...6 more annotations...
-
When England started its first phase five days earlier on 13 May, new daily cases had fallen but were still about 75% of its late-April to early-May peak.
-
On Monday, when Ireland started phase one of its gradual easing, new daily cases had tumbled to about 11% of the country’s late April peak.
-
he UK appeared to lack sufficient testing and contact-tracing capacity for such a surge, said L’Estrange. “Perhaps they can get it up and running quickly. But they’re behind the curve and playing catch-up. You have to have sufficient testing and contact-tracing capacity ready to go before you ease restrictions. They’ve put the cart before the horse. They released the virus without having the apparatus in place to control it, and they’ve released it at a high level.”
-
Ireland’s lockdown easing started after England’s and is scheduled to go more cautiously and slowly, with the last phase starting on 10 August, and schools opening in September. England’s plan envisages schools starting to open on 1 June and the final phase of lifting starting on 4 July.
-
the decision about schools was political. “It is not a scientific decision. Scientists can offer some advice.”
-
An editorial in the British Medical Journal this week excoriated the UK’s record on testing and tracing. “Meaningless political soundbites promising to recruit 18,000 contact tracers, test 200,000 people a day, or invest in unjustified contact tracing apps, divert focus and could lead to more deaths. These headline grabbing schemes should be replaced by locality-led strategies rooted in communicable disease control,” it said.