A tale of English exceptionalism - or how not to manage a pandemic like C-19
Lockdown later than other countries thereby resulting in many avoidable deaths (ref Edmund and Ferguson among others)
Don't control entry via airports and ports until way too late and fail to introduce quarantine like many other countries
Stop community testing too soon - or if you prefer fail to plan for community testing at scale (ref Whitty)
Don't see and plan for risks in care homes which have been at the end of the q for PPE and testing (ref NAO report today)
Use private sector expertise often without competitive procurement even when their ability to deliver what's needed and track record in working with public sector are mixed
Waste valuable time in planning test and trace and ask experienced leaders late in the day to pick up pieces @didoharding
Develop an NHS app for contact tracing de novo rather than using or adapting apps already available in other countries
Linked to this and more generally, appear to be uninterested in learning from others who have usually been more successful in containing the impact of C-19 than England
Fail to recognise the contribution of local govt and its leaders and the differential impact of C-19 in the regions resulting in a Whitehall perspective dominating decisions
Announce 5 alert levels on 10 May linked to restrictions on travel and activity and fail to adhere to this as lockdown is eased before alert levels change
Try to run everything from the centre under the leadership of politicians with little or no experience of leading complex change programmes - with predictable results
English exceptionalism is exceptional for its failures and mis steps at almost every stage. There is a stark contrast with countries like Germany and NZ, and when the reckoning comes it will not be kind
