At time of writing this piece the UK is preparing its exit strategy from a 10 week lockdown that has seen an almost complete shutdown of businesses and leisure activities, as well as forcing the country to stay home, protect the NHS, and save lives. However, an increasingly unclear lockdown policy, anxious economic prospects and Dominic Cummings-gate have continued to bring into question our government's ability to effectively and safely lead us through the remainder of this pandemic.
While numbers of new coronavirus cases are starting to decrease, our government has in many ways failed to adequately protect its population - parents are being told to send their young children back to school, despite no assurances that this will be safe for either teachers or pupils. Confusion reigns supreme as former coronavirus adviser Professor Neil Ferguson states that the UK has 'been much more heavily affected than we had previously anticipated', with the highest absolute number of excess deaths from coronavirus in Europe. Bearing this in mind, contrasting our situation with those elsewhere in Europe (particularly post-Brexit) provides an interesting perspective on how our country could or should be handling this crisis.
The number of cases and deaths across Europe varies dramatically, yet like us they are gradually beginning to relax restrictions, permitting more people to travel and in some circumstances are allowing larger gatherings of people at events. Countries within the European Union are starting to be able to once again enjoy the benefits of free movement and transport of goods. One notable example of this is Germany, one of the countries that coped extraordinarily well given its large population - their death toll stands at less than 10,000 whereas in the UK this has just passed 50,000. Germany has reaped the benefits of a well-funded health system and a sufficient number of GPs able to treat milder cases, leaving hospital beds free for those most seriously ill. Once the virus began to spread significantly across the globe, their government increased their ICU bed capacity from 12,000 to 40,000, while thanks to their strong science faculties their laboratories will soon be able to perform five million antibody tests per month. Germany took the threat seriously from the start, and as such has been able to reduce the damage coronavirus could have caused.
On the other side of the spectrum is Spain, one of the countries that has been worst hit by the outbreak. Initially brushed off by their head of medical emergencies in Madrid as only a 'handful' of cases, soon they became one of the European epicentres. One possible explanation for this is spectators travelling to and from Italy for a football game, or that hugging and kissing in public is the norm for people greeting each other in Spanish streets. But they were also underprepared and lacked the necessary PPE and testing resources. Spain has fewer hospital bed per capita than Germany - yet it still has more than the UK. The healthcare systems in both Spain and the UK have fallen victim in recent years to devastating austerity measures that have adversely impacted their ability to plan for and treat this virus. But it must also be stated that neither government reacted as swiftly as they should have done, supposedly fearing the negative economic consequences or the state of panic this could cause.
And now? Spain has for the first time reported 0 new cases of the virus in a 24 hour period, thanks to its strict lockdown policy. The UK is far from achieving this target, meanwhile our government would have us believe that we are winning this war. The possibility of a second outbreak remains a threat to all countries, so how can we ensure these mistakes are never repeated? We need to seriously invest in our NHS - it took weeks for adequate PPE to reach those who needed it, people are still not being tested, and we simply do not have enough ICU beds to support everyone who could potentially need them. We still need to view COVID 19 as the life threatening disease that it is and listen to our medical experts when it comes to relaxing lockdown policy. There are lessons from Europe and indedd the rest of the world that need to be learned, and quickly: we are only now just beginning to quaratine international arrivals, in spite of this being standard in many countries weeks ago. If we take anything with us from this crisis, it should be this - no one anywhere is immune from the effects of this disease.
While numbers of new coronavirus cases are starting to decrease, our government has in many ways failed to adequately protect its population - parents are being told to send their young children back to school, despite no assurances that this will be safe for either teachers or pupils. Confusion reigns supreme as former coronavirus adviser Professor Neil Ferguson states that the UK has 'been much more heavily affected than we had previously anticipated', with the highest absolute number of excess deaths from coronavirus in Europe. Bearing this in mind, contrasting our situation with those elsewhere in Europe (particularly post-Brexit) provides an interesting perspective on how our country could or should be handling this crisis.
The number of cases and deaths across Europe varies dramatically, yet like us they are gradually beginning to relax restrictions, permitting more people to travel and in some circumstances are allowing larger gatherings of people at events. Countries within the European Union are starting to be able to once again enjoy the benefits of free movement and transport of goods. One notable example of this is Germany, one of the countries that coped extraordinarily well given its large population - their death toll stands at less than 10,000 whereas in the UK this has just passed 50,000. Germany has reaped the benefits of a well-funded health system and a sufficient number of GPs able to treat milder cases, leaving hospital beds free for those most seriously ill. Once the virus began to spread significantly across the globe, their government increased their ICU bed capacity from 12,000 to 40,000, while thanks to their strong science faculties their laboratories will soon be able to perform five million antibody tests per month. Germany took the threat seriously from the start, and as such has been able to reduce the damage coronavirus could have caused.
On the other side of the spectrum is Spain, one of the countries that has been worst hit by the outbreak. Initially brushed off by their head of medical emergencies in Madrid as only a 'handful' of cases, soon they became one of the European epicentres. One possible explanation for this is spectators travelling to and from Italy for a football game, or that hugging and kissing in public is the norm for people greeting each other in Spanish streets. But they were also underprepared and lacked the necessary PPE and testing resources. Spain has fewer hospital bed per capita than Germany - yet it still has more than the UK. The healthcare systems in both Spain and the UK have fallen victim in recent years to devastating austerity measures that have adversely impacted their ability to plan for and treat this virus. But it must also be stated that neither government reacted as swiftly as they should have done, supposedly fearing the negative economic consequences or the state of panic this could cause.
And now? Spain has for the first time reported 0 new cases of the virus in a 24 hour period, thanks to its strict lockdown policy. The UK is far from achieving this target, meanwhile our government would have us believe that we are winning this war. The possibility of a second outbreak remains a threat to all countries, so how can we ensure these mistakes are never repeated? We need to seriously invest in our NHS - it took weeks for adequate PPE to reach those who needed it, people are still not being tested, and we simply do not have enough ICU beds to support everyone who could potentially need them. We still need to view COVID 19 as the life threatening disease that it is and listen to our medical experts when it comes to relaxing lockdown policy. There are lessons from Europe and indedd the rest of the world that need to be learned, and quickly: we are only now just beginning to quaratine international arrivals, in spite of this being standard in many countries weeks ago. If we take anything with us from this crisis, it should be this - no one anywhere is immune from the effects of this disease.
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