February/March 2020 Boris Johnson is allied to Trump and Bolsonaro. All three claim that the virus is nothing but a scare story – despite mounting death rate around the world.
There is no sense of urgency.
Johnson and Cummings dodge Cobra meetings. Johnson even wants Chris Witty (the medical expert) to inject him with virus on TV to show people it’s a fake). At least he didn’t recommend using bleach or UV!! He goes round shaking hands with coronavirus victims like a moron.
Many of the cabinet go on holiday.
The WHO issues strong statements about TESTING TESTING TESTING and isolating.
WHO is ignored. The UK stops all testing and goes for herd immunity.
They then get the modelling for herd immunity and discover that we could be looking at up to 3 million deaths!
They panic!
Inside government there is panic and chaos.
They gradually realise that the logic they have been working on is flawed. There is no plan B. They are floundering. They have no strategy. SAGE was wrong. Johnson was playing it all down – ‘a scare story – another Swine Flu’ – copying Trump and Bolsonaro.
The Science Adviser Helen MacNamara said there was no plan, the country was completely fucked, there would be hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Boris Johnson dithered and refused to lockdown. There was mounting panic and chaos.
Reports said that America was screwing up.
They kept the sporting events going – Fans from Spain (in the middle of a covid tsunami) coming across to Liverpool for the European match and mixing in pubs. Cheltenham going ahead.
Italy locked down. Many other countries closed borders (Israel, Saudi, Vietnam).
We kept our borders open without checks.
We did not lock down.
Who is to blame?
SAGE, Boris Johnson and inept cabinet.