Assuming any of this is true (it is Dominic Cummings, after all), it paints a pretty damning picture of a government hopelessly unprepared and woefully unsuited to dealing with a serious emergency.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9…
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9…
For starters, apparently the Prime Minister and others were convinced the whole thing was overblown, and that the economic damage from acting would be worse than the death toll from doing nothing.
They saw it as another Swine Flu.
They were wrong.
They saw it as another Swine Flu.
They were wrong.
Once they got past that, herd immunity WAS the initial policy, because they didn't see any alternative. Either 260,000 people die in the spring (the "optimal" strategy!) or even more die in the winter.
He claims there was even talk of asking people to intentionally get infected!
He claims there was even talk of asking people to intentionally get infected!
This would certainly explain all the early talk about herd immunity (both on and off the record), as well as Johnson's cavalier talk of shaking hands with covid patients and the virus "triggering a panic" that will do "unnecessary economic damage".
gov.uk/government/spe…
gov.uk/government/spe…
Stricter measures to reduce the death toll further weren't seriously considered, because everyone assumed that people wouldn't accept them.
By the time a "plan B" was bodged together, it was already too late.
By the time a "plan B" was bodged together, it was already too late.
But it's Matt Hancock who really got thrown under the bus. Cummings accuses him of repeatedly lying to both ministers and the public (pot, kettle, black), most seriously about assurances that people would be tested before being discharged to care homes.
It's not clear if this is true, and he and Johnson honestly didn't know what was going on, or if he's just scapegoating Hancock for well publicised failings in care homes during the first wave that tragically contributed to tens of thousands of deaths.
https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1255106093040181248?s=19
He also calls out the chaos caused by attempts to ramp up testing in April to hit an arbitrary target to test 100,000 people a day by the end of the month.
He even accuses Hancock of telling his department to hold back tests to use later in the month to accomplish this!
He even accuses Hancock of telling his department to hold back tests to use later in the month to accomplish this!
What we do know is the government only (briefly) hit the 100,000 target (after a remarkable last minute surge) by counting tests put in the post to individuals and "satellite" testing sites (such as care homes) but not actually used towards the total.
https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1257078690246201344?s=19
It eventually turned out that two thirds of the tests counted when they were sent out were NEVER returned and processed by a lab.
Over 4 million, by the time they stopped exaggerating the figures by publishing "tests made available" as their key metric.
Over 4 million, by the time they stopped exaggerating the figures by publishing "tests made available" as their key metric.
https://twitter.com/_johnbye/status/1279589319922061314?s=19
Whether we can trust all of this is open to question.
While Cummings starts by saying that he too "fell disastrously short", it's clear that he sees himself as riding to the rescue, and that his biggest failure was not doing so earlier.
It's self effacing but also self serving.
While Cummings starts by saying that he too "fell disastrously short", it's clear that he sees himself as riding to the rescue, and that his biggest failure was not doing so earlier.
It's self effacing but also self serving.
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