At the daily Downing St press conference on Sunday 5 April 2020 I tried to ask Jenny Harries, alongside Matt Hancock, what the plan was for testing in care homes. I always remember this because I had to follow up twice to get an answer because she wasn’t completely clear 1/
The answer in the end was they were doing 5 in each setting & where there had been outbreaks. Harries said “we wouldn’t necessarily test everybody”. This sounded odd at the time - this isn’t hindsight - & I kept asking when there would be a plan to do proper testing in care homes
Anyway, if anyone is interested, here is the transcript courtesy of rev.com - it’s quite long
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I feel like I might be in a minority but I’m approaching the Cummings hearing like this: he’s a super-whistleblower offering us a dress rehearsal for the full public inquiry
Huge admission right at start: “the truth is senior ministers, senior officials senior advisers like me tell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this. When the public needed us most the government failed”
“I’d like to say to all the families of those who died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that we made and for my own mistakes at that”
BREAKING: I’ve learnt that Sage are holding an urgent meeting tomorrow to discuss a dramatic rise in cases of the Indian variant, with some scientists fearing delays to roadmap: inews.co.uk/news/scientist…
Cases to be published tomorrow are expected to show a tripling of B1617.2 in the past week inews.co.uk/news/scientist…
The PM warned today that this variant is of “increasing concern here in the U.K.” Next Monday lifting will go ahead but possible of delays to easement for 21 June inews.co.uk/news/scientist…
PM says a *full public statutory inquiry* will be held into the government response to the pandemic. That means powers to call witnesses and demand files/data.
He says it will be a “significant burden” on ministers and scientific advisers to testify so right time for inquiry to start is in a year’s time after a possible 3rd wave
Having covered Hutton and Chilcot inquiries and knowing how much work goes into witnesses preparing testimonies etc, I think it’s right to have the inquiry next spring. We need key witnesses like Whitty Vallance etc on the case every day of this pandemic particularly if 3rd wave
I haven't commented on the #HarryandMeghanOprah interview yet not because I don't have views - I have so, so many - but, call me old-fashioned, I wanted to watch it in full before passing comment. Last night I finally got the time to do it. 1/
I should also say that all accusations of bullying should be taken seriously and investigated properly. Just as all accusations of racism should be taken seriously and investigated properly 2/
I find the split by age of whether you support Harry and Meghan or not rather odd. I am 47, which means I am old enough to remember how Diana was treated 3/
I know there are plenty of people in worse situations but I have to ask fellow homeschooling parents something to see if what I’m feeling is common: today I’ve felt pretty low, when I was expecting to feel great after having physical and mental space to focus on work 1/
Not stressed, in fact the opposite. Kind of empty and purposeless. I imagine it’s due to two months of adrenaline of the double shift plus lunches cleaning everything else and it’s like all the air has gone from a balloon. Maybe also a disappointment that my expectation of 2/
feeling <great> didn’t materialise because, well we’re still in a pandemic. So I expect this will pass soon. But wanted to be honest about this and ask if anyone felt the same, and to say, I get it. 3/3
The current terrible situation in hospitals & fatalities is from cases *before* this line started going nearly vertical. So the situation in NHS in 2-3 weeks is going to be horrific. We should have locked down on 18 December, when PM was told the new variant was faster spreading
To those asking what would make the difference between tier 4 London with these cases and full lockdown: 1. Clear public health messaging to stay at home and only do necessary trips (suburban London high streets are currently packed, people gathering in groups) and 2. A lot of
these numbers are from people in London who clearly ignored the order not to mix over Xmas.