All Our Yesterdays: Day 171
One year ago today we received one of the first media reports about a “novel coronavirus" outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
10.01.20. Mail Online:
“UK health officials urge travellers to China for New Year celebrations to wash their hands regularly and see a doctor if they get a cough amid outbreak of mysterious virus.”
Public Health England (PHE) said the “risk to travellers is low" and they were not advising people to change their plans.” We were given this assurance:
“ The “risk to the UK population is very low. The UK has robust arrangements to manage emerging diseases…"
How wrong they were!
We cannot blame PHE for the spread of the virus in the first months of the pandemic, as no one was initially aware of the deadly seriousness of the disease. However, people should be held to account for claiming the UK had “robust arrangements to manage emerging diseases.”
Only the day before PHE made this claim, the BBC carried this headline:
“ 'Misery' for A&E patients facing record-long waits.”
The BBC went on to reveal that almost 100,000 of the ‘sickest patients’ were forced to wait on trolleys for up to 4 hours, in crowded corridors.
We now know there was no PPE available when Covid-19 finally took off in Britain, with many health care workers loosing their lives as a result.
After years of Tory chronic under funding, our NHS, already on its knees, was anything but ready to deal with a pandemic.
That’s is why yesterday were reading headlines like the one below.
09.01.21. Independent:
“Record death toll as up to 150,000 infected in a day.”
We deserve better.
