Scrutable

We've know since SARS Mark 1 that the way to control outbreaks of respiratory viruses lies in these four words. The fact that the UK has been so sh.t at all four of them (and in increasing order of shitness) largely explains why the UK has done so badly in the last year.

And now we find that our world-beating, fantastically expensive system has yet again f.cked up and contributed to a major outbreak:

Failures in England's Test and Trace system are partly responsible for a surge in the Indian variant in one of the worst affected parts of the country, a report seen by the BBC says.

For three weeks in April and May, eight local authorities in England did not have access to the full data on positive tests in their area.

Absolutely gobsmacking that they started off being terrible and have completely failed to improve in the last year (except, as usual, by massaging their figures).

It's worth noting that three of those eight areas (Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset) are contiguous so who knows what that will have done to local infection rates. Also, my mum is a councillor for one of those areas and the first she heard about this was me telling her. So that's great.

It is genuinely puzzling how the UK has managed to be this crap, at everything except vaccine rollout, so consistently throughout the pandemic.

Bird on a Fire wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 10:05 am It is genuinely puzzling how the UK has managed to be this crap, at everything except vaccine rollout, so consistently throughout the pandemic.

Conscious deliberate choice by the PM and his policy advisors. The alternative is that we've been truly lucky with the vaccine, but I think it more likely that it shows we can do the right thing when they've chosen to. And for the others they've chosen to channel cash to their mates/donors and show preference to some sectors of the economy over the safety of the population.

Bird on a Fire wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 10:05 am It is genuinely puzzling how the UK has managed to be this crap, at everything except vaccine rollout, so consistently throughout the pandemic.

Is it because they left the actual administering of the vaccine to the health service while Test Isolate Trace Support went TITS-up because it was their mates being given money without public accountability?

(As for how the UK has managed to obtain so many vaccine doses, well, that's a question I'd also like to know the answer to. In one of the threads about the vaccine rollout.)

science_fox wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:17 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 10:05 am It is genuinely puzzling how the UK has managed to be this crap, at everything except vaccine rollout, so consistently throughout the pandemic.

Conscious deliberate choice by the PM and his policy advisors. The alternative is that we've been truly lucky with the vaccine, but I think it more likely that it shows we can do the right thing when they've chosen to. And for the others they've chosen to channel cash to their mates/donors and show preference to some sectors of the economy over the safety of the population.

shpalman wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:56 am

Bird on a Fire wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 10:05 am It is genuinely puzzling how the UK has managed to be this crap, at everything except vaccine rollout, so consistently throughout the pandemic.

Is it because they left the actual administering of the vaccine to the health service while Test Isolate Trace Support went TITS-up because it was their mates being given money without public accountability?

I can't help but think, though, that the overall economic damage is probably bad enough to offset all that. Especially as people tend to blame the government.

shpalman wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:56 am(As for how the UK has managed to obtain so many vaccine doses, well, that's a question I'd also like to know the answer to. In one of the threads about the vaccine rollout.)

Yes, I specified rollout deliberately - the roll-in is another matter

shpalman wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:56 am (As for how the UK has managed to obtain so many vaccine doses, well, that's a question I'd also like to know the answer to. In one of the threads about the vaccine rollout.)

By being first in the queue and waving a large wad of cash.