{"id":45269,"date":"2020-03-22T07:50:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T07:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/?p=45269"},"modified":"2020-04-12T14:36:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-12T14:36:09","slug":"lancet-editor-slates-uk-failure-to-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steelcityscribblings.uk\/wp\/2020\/03\/22\/lancet-editor-slates-uk-failure-to-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancet Editor slates UK “failure to act”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The science has changed? No! After precious months of denialist inaction, the government has “at last understood what had really taken place in China”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why should we care what Richard Horton thinks? He is not only a practising doctor but editor of one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals is why. Four days ago in the Guardian<\/strong><\/a>, he had this to say of the Johnson regime’s response to the covid-19 threat.<\/p>\n

O<\/span><\/span>n 24 January, Chinese doctors and scientists described a new disease caused by a novel coronavirus. A strange series of pneumonia cases had presented in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people and capital of Hubei province. At that time, 800 cases of the new disease had been confirmed. The virus had already been exported to Thailand, Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n

Most of the 41 described in this first report, published<\/a><\/strong> in the Lancet, had non-specific symptoms of fever and cough. More than half had difficulties in breathing. But most worrying, a third had to be admitted to intensive care. Most developed a critical complication\u00a0 \u2013 acute respiratory distress syndrome. Half died.<\/p>\n

The Chinese scientists pulled no punches. \u201cThe number of deaths is rising quickly,\u201d they wrote. Protective equipment for health workers was strongly recommended. Testing for the virus should be done immediately a diagnosis was suspected. They concluded that the mortality rate was high. And they urged careful surveillance of this new virus in view of its \u201cpandemic potential\u201d.<\/p>\n

That was in January. Why did it take the UK government eight weeks to recognise the seriousness of what we now call Covid-19?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2003, Chinese officials were heavily criticised for keeping the dangers of a new viral disease, severe <\/strong><\/a> acute <\/a> respiratory <\/a> syndrome<\/a><\/strong> (Sars), secret. By 2020, a new generation of Chinese scientists had learned their lesson. Under immense pressure, as the epidemic exploded around them, they took time to write up their findings in a foreign language and seek publication in a medical journal thousands of miles away. Their rapid and rigorous work was an urgent warning to the world. We owe those scientists enormous thanks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But medical and scientific advisers to the UK government ignored their warnings. For unknown reasons they waited. And watched.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The scientists advising ministers seemed to believe this new virus could be treated like influenza. Graham Medley, one of the government\u2019s expert scientific advisers, was disarmingly explicit. In an interview on Newsnight last week, he explained the UK\u2019s approach: to allow a controlled epidemic of large numbers of people, which would generate \u201cherd immunity<\/strong><\/a>\u201d. Our scientists recommended \u201ca situation where the majority of the population are immune to the infection. And the only way to get that, in the absence of a vaccine, is for most of the population to become infected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medley suggested \u201ca nice big epidemic\u201d among the less vulnerable. \u201cWhat we are going to try and do is manage this acquisition of herd immunity and minimise the exposure of people who are vulnerable.\u201d Patrick Vallance, the government\u2019s chief scientific adviser, suggested<\/strong><\/a> the target was to infect 60% of the UK\u2019s population.<\/p>\n