It New York TimesBoris Johnson, the Conservative government of the United Kingdom that responded to the coronavirus epidemic has been long slammed by many. But Josh Holder’s hit in the Sunday edition may turn out embarrassing: “Children Drive Britain’s Longest-Running Covid Surge.”
Holder strongly hinted that Johnson’s reckless insistence that life return to normal this summer (no masks!) causing the current coronavirus outbreak.
Britain is once again at the peak of a coronavirus surge, just over three months after all coronavirus restrictions were lifted on what Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed as “Freedom Day.”
The number of cases have not changed much since that time, and there are more than 20,000 new ones each day. Nearly 9,000 Britons are currently being treated with Covid-19, the highest number since March when the United Kingdom went into lockdown.
He quoted professor Tim Spector: “It trouble is that the government has gone from ‘operation fear’ that we had a year ago to ‘operation complacency.”
(As a recent visitor to England, I can confirm that the mostly mask-less citizenry have pretty much gotten on with their lives.)
The TimesAs usual, we worked tirelessly to decry any area that threatened to continue with our lives without the disposable cotton mask.
England’s coronavirus protections are some of the most relaxed in Europe, since July 19, which was when all restrictions were lifted.Mandatory mask wearing. A recent survey conducted by YouGov, Imperial College London and the British Council found that 21 percent of Britons don’t wear face masks in public. This is four times more than in Italy or Spain.
He also blamed the UK for not vaccinating children fast enough, without mentioning legitimate risk questions regarding side effects like myocartidis, or the fact that children are generally not affected by the virus.
The current surge is being primarily driven by high levels of infection in school-age children….
The U.K. took longer than most European countries to approve vaccines that were intended for teenagers. Pfizer BioNTech recommended a single dose for 12-15-year-olds. This was weeks after students returned from summer vacation. Only 21 percent (12-15-year-olds) have been vaccinated in England so far. This compares to 80 percent for adults.
Director of University College London’s Clinical Operational Research Unit, Professor Christina Pagel stated that vaccine approvals have been slow for children aged 12-15 years old. It was a huge mistake.
The United Kingdom is also responsible for case spikes across Europe.
The U.K.’s high case rates had been an outlier in Western Europe in recent weeks, as infections in France, Germany and Spain all plateaued at low levels. But rising cases in Germany hint that Britain’s woes could spread across the continent this winter, with fears that waning immunity and increased indoor mixing will fuel further infection.
Holder may have been hiding the actual case information near the end.
The U.K. has seen its case rates fall in the last few daysThis trend is expected to continue, but it remains to see if the trend will be sustained when children go back to school next week following a mid-semester vacation. Professor Pagel said she hoped the brief vacation from school would serve as a break in transmission….
This timing could be very embarrassing. Times, given that on the very morning this story ran, average Covid cases in the United Kingdom were actually flat over the last two weeks over all – the graph showing a rise and then rapid fall that may augur a sustained decline, not a “surge.”
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