And so, with more Tory MPs felling unwell enough to self-isolate, and realising that his Government’s reaction to the Coronavirus outbreak had not been quite as bold as that of several other nations, alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson came clean and faced the cameras yesterday afternoon. And what he had to tell the country may not have been obvious at first, but it was deeply, deeply disturbing.
But at least there was rare candour as he warned “Some people compare it to seasonal flu, alas that is not right. Owing to the lack of immunity, this disease is more dangerous. It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time”.
The Government is considering - but only considering - a suspension of major sporting events and other large gatherings. But in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has used the powers devolved to her administration to order the cancellation of mass gatherings of more than 500 people. The entire Chelsea and Everton squads have gone into self-isolation after one of each team tested positive for Covid-19. And so it goes on.
The UK is no longer tracing every contact of those tested positive for Covid-19, in contravention of WHO advice. And while Bozo The Clown’s obedient stenographer Robert Peston of ITV tells “'Herd immunity' will be vital to stopping coronavirus”, well, two things here. One, the sure-fire way to get “Herd Immunity” is through a vaccination programme. But there will not be a vaccine against Covid-19 until next year.
And Two, if some 80% of the population is infected with Covid-19, even with the relatively low death rate of 1% posited by Government advisors, that means half a million people are going to lose their lives. And as James O’Brien has pointed out, the incentive for those in the so-called gig economy is to keep on working, because they can’t afford the time off.
Moreover, as the Tweeter known as Ben Claimant has observed, we are being advised to “sleep alone if possible”. But for many poorer people, after years of the so-called Bedroom Tax, this is no longer possible. The poor, and indeed the working poor, will be hit hardest. And it is there that Covid-19 will not be stopped or slowed.
As for the elderly, many of whom put their faith in Bozo The Clown at last December’s General Election, well. Given that Channel 4 News has told “Dr Jenny Vaughan from The Doctors' Association says NHS staff know they will lose colleagues … ‘We will lose our colleagues, we will be burying our colleagues’”, where does that put the elderly?
At least there is now an admission from the Government that action needs to be taken: after all, Bozo will have seen the gathering storm in the USA, where Combover Crybaby Donald Trump “suppressed coronavirus testing to keep the numbers low and boost his chances at reelection” and has now been caught out. He knows that, for once, he has to be honest with the electorate, or pay the ultimate political penalty later on.
But for the elderly, he is not even offering blood, toil, tears and sweat. Just death.
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Sure it's not the Chelsea and Arsenal squads gone into isolation, Tim?
ReplyDeleteAnother way of acquiring herd immunity is for the threshold percentage to catch it. And if 80% do, that doesn't seem high enough. It's 95% for measles and Coronavirus seems more infectious.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that only about 10,000 have caught it either.
How can they estimate numbers by only testing those admitted to hospital? Counting those self-isolating will include people with colds and skiving off work.
ReplyDeleteJust months into the Bozo Circus......and they show they're even bigger couldn't-care-less shithouses than previously thought.
ReplyDeleteContinuity toryism.
Premier League and EFL matches have now been suspended, Tim.
ReplyDelete