This is what our PM just said in the HoC: "I can tell him also that by June 1, already we have recruited 24,000 trackers and by June 1 we will have 25,000. They will be capable of tracking the contacts of 10,000 new cases a day."

Great I thought, but are we talking about proper contact tracers here or just call centre stuff? The countries that have been applying this strategy successfully (since back in Feb!) are using local teams which intervene quickly, test properly the infected people and their contacts and get the results quickly and then seperate the infected from the healthy.

I just hope that we won't mess this up too, we cannot just have contact tracers calling people up and trying to get contact details and then just send test kits in the post for those contacts to take swabs themselves. 

No more fcking incompetence!

 

O'Brien did a phone in about this and talked to some of the new recruits. I'm afraid its almost entirely working from home and calling people up

 

Yes, I remember that and in that aspect the govt was doing well in Feb. We were testing more than any other country in Europe and we were following the best practice of test, trace and isolate. Behind the scenes however, mistakes were being made that were sowing the seeds of many subsequent problems: no border closures or proper screening, lack of scaling up of testing, being biased by a flu pandemic preparation, the catastrophic indulgence with the notion of herd immunity without a vaccine, the dogged refusal to see what was happening in other countries (both in Asia and Europe), the delay in stopping mass gatherings, delay in locking down and so many more. 

I mostly agree with that. Will be interesting when the inquest is done and we find out what advice was being given at the time.

I suspect that too much wishful thinking was going on and not just in our political classes.

And think about this JustinW, if the Tories are as callus as you think they are, then why the hell would they try to kill off their own vote base? 

 

Most of the people who have died are poorer pensioners and those from urban backgrounds and BAME - Labour's base

 

Most of the people who have died are poorer pensioners and those from urban backgrounds and BAME - Labour's base

 

Age is a much bigger indicator than Race. And pensioners are overwhelmingly Tory regardless of their income levels. Without pensioners in GE2019 it would probably have been a hung parliment. Also red wall seats which the Tories are adapting their policy to target are Urban.

 

You just make this sh1t up and I’ve come to the conclusion that you are an idiot. Just repeat your off-the-top-of-your head cr4p over and over until you go into one of your bipolar sulks.

It’s garbage. Think about it. Work it out. Do some reading. Do you honestly believe that NHS managers in scores of trusts, foundation trusts and college hospital foundations all made the same decision independently.

It wouldn’t matter it this was a Labour govt or the MRLP. Our government has effectively condemned thousands of care home residents to death. Your slavish loyalty to the Tories shows you are unable to reason or think for yourself.

For someone with your intelligence ..............that's a poor post .

When Quantum stops insulting the thousands of people in the NHS who are implementing Govt decisions and risking their lives - as he continues to do week after week with no justification whatsoever - I will lay off him. 
Until then, he deserves what he gets.

 

Most of the people who have died are poorer pensioners and those from urban backgrounds and BAME - Labour's base

 

The virus is indiscriminate when it targets older people, so I don't know where "poorer pensioners" comes from - some of those in care homes are very well off (and paying for the privilege). Agree about urbanites and BAME - it is self evident that city dwellers will be more at risk, because of the crowds, but we don't know why BAME are more at risk - that is still under investigation - it is not simply class, poverty or crowded living conditions - some of those from an ethnic background who have died are well off and working with white colleagues who don't suffer in the same way.  We will have to see what they uncover on that particular topic.

Is this true @pritipatel ?
If it is, can you resign please. pic.twitter.com/iiWOAGXik2

— *****Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 20, 2020

 

For someone with your intelligence ..............that's a poor post .

 

Yes - shocking.

When Quantum stops insulting the thousands of people in the NHS who are implementing Govt decisions and risking their lives - as he continues to do week after week with no justification whatsoever - I will lay off him. 
Until then, he deserves what he gets.

Doesn't this kinda prove my point that we arn't allowed to critisize the NHS because of cultural ties to it? NHS workers still have the same breath of competence, morality and deference as the rest of us. And the implicit argument that british people that work in the Healthcare have some inherant superiority to other western countries is not an argument I accept.

Is this true @pritipatel ?
If it is, can you resign please. pic.twitter.com/iiWOAGXik2

— *****Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 20, 2020

Well this is a good example. Priti could have asked the HO to draft up a sensible berevement scheme to give those who work in healthcare indefinite leave to remain. The HO might have then left out these lower skilled workers. Equally it could have been her own personal oversight. The reality is we don't know who is to blame here and who screwed up. Ofc I'd expect this to be corrected now it has come to light.

 

The virus is indiscriminate when it targets older people, so I don't know where "poorer pensioners" comes from - some of those in care homes are very well off (and paying for the privilege). Agree about urbanites and BAME - it is self evident that city dwellers will be more at risk, because of the crowds, but we don't know why BAME are more at risk - that is still under investigation - it is not simply class, poverty or crowded living conditions - some of those from an ethnic background who have died are well off and working with white colleagues who don't suffer in the same way.  We will have to see what they uncover on that particular topic.

If you look at the care homes worst affected, they tend to be cheaper ones that maybe didn't have PPE etc?

As for BAME, I think its a mixture of factors - they tend to work in public facing jobs (healthcare, transport, cleaners etc), and live in urban areas in multi generational households.

Also a genetic factor with more ACE2 receptors in the lungs (I don't understand the science of this, but its what I have heard)

Yikes. So even Henry Bolton ex UKIP leader doesn’t like the NHS migrant surcharge. He just told a shocked @piersmorgan on @GMB. How can the government be even more anti-foreigner than the bloke who ran UKIP? That’s quite an achievement.

— Ayesha Hazarika (@ayeshahazarika) May 20, 2020

Good illustration why the argument shouldn't really be about whether we should borrow which feels like party politics as usual but when we should borrow.

 

Well this is a good example. Priti could have asked the HO to draft up a sensible berevement scheme to give those who work in healthcare indefinite leave to remain. The HO might have then left out these lower skilled workers. Equally it could have been her own personal oversight. The reality is we don't know who is to blame here and who screwed up. Ofc I'd expect this to be corrected now it has come to light.

 

Thank God for scrutiny eh, not just slavish support of the govt

Priti and the word "sensible" don't mix. She is a (series of words the profanity filter would block)

 

Thank God for scrutiny eh, not just slavish support of the govt

Priti and the word "sensible" don't mix. She is a (series of words the profanity filter would block)

I'm fine with scrutiny. Not so fine with journalists making a big song and dance about a single comms error in a twitter post and trying to pass it off as govt policy (100k tests scandal).