Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. On 5 March 2020, the PM was asked why Britain hadn't locked down

He replied saying "one the theories is that we could #TakeItOnTheChin"

A year ago today - briefed by No.10 - @Peston revealed the govt strategy was to “allow the virus to pass through the entire population”.

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1239099604228071424

2/. It was clear that @Peston & his “senior No.10 source” had not understood #HerdImmunity which - as every virologist will tell you - is an OUTCOME never a STRATEGY

Allowing #COVID19 to spread
without a vaccine would be madness & result in mass deaths.

3/. Rather than correct @Peston & his “senior No.10 source” @uksciencechief came out publicly to defend “the strategy”

#HerdImmunity without a vaccine is, by definition, not a preventative measure

What was going on?!!

The was no lockdown & the #CheltenhamFestival was starting!

4/. As well as Vallance, David Halpern had also talked to @BBCMarkEaston about #HerdImmunity as a strategy on 11/3/20

Was Halpern & his behavioural science team also behind the non-scientific “behavioural fatigue” theory used to justify delaying lockdown?

5/. On 11 March - the day the @WHO declared #COVID19 a pandemic- Jenny Harries said public outdoor events are safe & that “we don’t want to disrupt people lives”.

That week, Liverpool played Real Madrid & 250,000 people went to the #CheltenhamFestival

6/. On the same day that @Peston published his article briefed by “a senior No.10 source”, Chris Whitty announced the decision to “pivot” away from community testing

Experts made it clear at the time that this was the 100% wrong thing to do. #COVID19

7/. Over those weeks in March, thousands were infected #CheltenhamFestival, Liverpool Athletico, Crufts etc

This, it seems, was part of the “strategy”

Even at the time, it was clearly a non-scientific & deadly #COVID19 “strategy”

Yet it continued

A year ago, I tweeted this👇

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1238014499342495744

8/. Dido Harding - who overseen the spending of £37 billion on the largely ineffectual #TestAndTrace system - is a board member of the Jockey Club, owners of the #CheltenhamFestival

Dido’s husband is the PM's “Anti-Corruption Champion”! #COVID19 #COVID

9/. “Curiouser & curiouser. No one has any idea how deep this rabbit hole goes” Alice

So the govt strategy was unscientific & deadly #HerdImmunity The question was “Why?”

Why would UK - & US - adopt a strategy knowing it would result in countless deaths?

This offers answers👇

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1252354324136521736

10/. The #HerdImmuityScandal explains how Britain squandered the greatest gift any country could have wished for in the circumstances: a 2-month head start

It also offers an explanation for the bewildering multiplicity of scandals (care homes, PPE etc.)

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1283928853052825600?s=20

11/. The investigation into why the govt adopted a #HerdImmunity ‘strategy’ leads back to the PM's 3rd February #GreenwichSpeech

Here #BorisJohnson mentions #COVID19 for the first time & warns against medically irrational responses

The speech also hints at a much bigger plan👇

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1356875898381869056

12/. When the PM talks about emerging from the #COVID crisis as a “supercharged superman”👆it echoes Cummings’ writings on genomics.

#Palantir - the a shadowy company founded by right-wing billionaire, Peter Thiel - ‘won’ the contracts to collect health data in UK, US & beyond👇

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1330489040387366914

13/. Set-up with CIA funding, #Palantir also reportedly taught #CambridgeAnalytica about data scraping

Palantir are running data stores for the NHS in the UK & HHS in the US

Last July, @amnesty mentioned them in a piece warning against “bio-intrusive surveillance capitalism”.

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1310607600422133771

14/. #COVID19 was not “an invisible mugger”

Scientists warned us

WHO warned us

Cygnus warned us

Italy warned us

The govt had known about #COVID since the start of January

They knew about asymptomatic spread since late January

This THREAD explains👇

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1261780103551475718

15/. The govt has made no attempted to correct @Peston's article & were quick to claim #HerdImmunity was never their strategy

Most people think the govt "pivoted" away from HI on 16 March

In reality, herd immunity was not only their strategy: it still is

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1242076106297049089?s=20

16/. We are told on the 16 March the govt "pivoted away" from a #HerdImmunity strategy

This isn't true

Lockdown - mitigating the spread - isn't inconsistent with herd immunity, especially with poor #TestAndTrace, no border controls, #EatOutToHelpOut etc

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1291283151537549312?s=20

17/. This death-rate graph from Dec makes it clear

Sweden was open about its #HerdImmunity strategy

#Trump finally admitted US strategy is “herd mentality”

UK govt told @Peston herd immunity was their strategy before allegedly “pivoting away”

The graph tells v different story

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1337831770125987840

18/. Recognition that #HerdImmunity is the govt’s plan enables us to make sense of their seemingly inexplicable actions & inactions

On 21 Sept, the PM didn’t attend the SAGE meeting where a circuit-breaker lockdown was advised

Instead, he met 2 leading anti-lockdown scientists

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1321061397804032006

19/. Whilst SAGE draws info from a large number of top scientists, their final recommendations are made by a small group

The recommendations made by this group on 5 March - the first SAGE meeting #Cummings attended - didn't reflect the findings presented.

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1272303816289943552

20/. In June, @TheLancet's @richardhorton1 told @maitlis: "I think there's been an element of collusion btw the scientific community & politicians"

Scientists like @devisridhar & @IndependentSage offered a little sanity

Some journalists asked "But why?"

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1370526987610099715

21/. The govt chosing to ignore SAGE's circuit-breaker lockdown advice didn't come as a surprise

SAGE has been sidelined since the #JointBiosecurityCentre took over #COVID19 strategy in July

The JBC hasn’t published ANY minutes

It’s membership is secret

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1316166161067921409

22/. To what extent has the #JointBiosecurityCentre increased political supervision of "the science"?

Has #Cummings attended any #JBC meetings?

What about Ben & Marc Warner who set up #FacultyAI which works with #Palantir running the NHS data store?

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1282449343841292291

"two week head start"! (Oops!) 😊

23/. #HerdImmunity explains how two of the world's most advanced countries came to have the world's highest #COVID19 death rates

Parallels btw UK & US #COVID19 strategies are striking

At the time SAGE & PHE were sidelined, the same happened to CDC in US.

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1282713957862723584