The elephant in the room

In reply to Deborah Briggs’ letter Avoiding Infection Requires Social Distancing (SN; 23 March 2020): I couldn’t agree with you more Debra. Social distancing is one of, if not the most important aspect in infection control.

However you completely missed or chose to ignore the elephant in the room and my main point.

Earlier this week on the BBC Question Time programme we saw for the first time the mist of hysteria lifting and some factual information presented that some folk have known about for two months now but ignored in the media fuelled panic.

Professor Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet, honorary professor at the London School Of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, stated once again that the UK should have gone into lockdown in January when the potency and virulence of the coronavirus in China was crystal clear, and that the science has not changed from then.

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Government and medical advice were totally wrong, complacent and dangerous in its utter failure or refusal to recognise the obvious, and with the lack of action entirely responsible for allowing the virus to reach critical mass and all but impossible to halt.

Governments in all the countries where this happened are completely responsible for the chaos to their health services and the loss of life.

When the UK comes out of this we will need a serious public enquiry with teeth. Being told that “lessons will be learnt and changes implemented” is no longer acceptable as this is what happens all the time with no real changes occurring.

Vic Thomas
Catfirth