March 18. 2020

Boris Johnson

The Boris Johnson led Tory government in Britain has endangered the British population with a "herd immunity" plan, in response to the deadly coronavirus (Covid-19). Rather than self-isolate as the rest of the world has been doing, Johnson and his government decided to choose "herd immunity" as the plan of action for Britain, imperiling the lives of 65,000,000 people. As such, they've lost valuable time.

The World Health Organization and a host of independent doctors and scientists condemned the move by Johnson as dangerous. Johnson nor his top advisor, Dominic Cummings, have a medical background. Johnson studied Art History at Oxford. Cummings studied Ancient and Modern History at Oxford. Yet, they have defied medical and science experts around the globe regarding the coronavirus (not to mention, with no economics degrees, have been steering Britain into catastrophe regarding Brexit, which is a financial mistake).

Once again, we see Johnson fancies himself an expert in everything, while not having a clue about what he is doing. As I mentioned in the February 28, 2020 article "The Racism And Xenophobia Of Prime Minister Boris Johnson Is Creating Division And Crime In Britain To The Nation’s Detriment" Johnson stated on the radio that he knows more about cars and the auto industry than Ralf Speth, a man with engineering and business degrees, who is the head of Jaguar Land Rover, with over 40-years experience in the automotive industry (working for Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Ford).

This madness must stop. Some firm lines need to be drawn in the sand regarding Johnson. I keep stating he is in over his head and he is repeatedly proving me correct in these claims. It was bad enough when he behaved in this manner regarding Brexit, but the coronavirus is a far more pressing and dangerous situation.

World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, slammed Johnson's response to the coronavirus crisis, for refusing to engage in meaningful testing and self-isolation, "You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is. Find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission. Every case we find and treat limits the expansion of the disease."

The Vox website reported regarding a former World Health Organization employee's views on Johnson's conduct, "On Twitter, the former director of maternal, child, and adolescent health at the World Health Organization, Anthony Costello, wrote that researchers don’t even yet know if people become immune to the novel coronavirus after catching it. 'Is it ethical to adopt a policy that threatens immediate casualties on the basis of an uncertain future benefit?' he wrote."

William Hanage penned an article in the Guardian entitled "I'm an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain's 'herd immunity' coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire." Once again, Johnson's government is being laughed at by experts.

After widespread criticism last week, Johnson abandoned his "herd immunity" coronavirus plan 2-days ago, much like he ditched his wife while she's sick with cancer, for a younger woman, who is now knocked up with his baby.

Johnson, who is the face of Brexit, has been terrible for the British medical system. Johnson and his two Tory predecessors at Downing Street (Theresa May and David Cameron) have under-funded the National Health Service (NHS) to such degrees, the coronavirus has horribly added to an already strained situation, becoming the perfect storm.

I warned pestilence was coming, but they did not listen, despite the fact the British government are in my site stats as visitors (Theresa May And Boris Johnson Under-Funding Of The NHS Left The Health Service Ill-Prepared To Counter The Effects Of The Coronavirus (Covid-19)).

2-years ago in the May 21, 2018 article "Theresa May’s Appalling Treatment Of Foreign Doctors, Scientists, IT Specialists And Students Is Damaging The British Economy To The Tune Of Billions" I stated the British government should appeal to teens graduating from school, to become doctors and nurses.

I also wrote in the aforementioned article the government should give students grants (free money) as incentive to do so. Had the Tory government initiated a thorough medical drive to recruit graduating students to become doctors and nurses, the first group of graduates would be nurses in the next year. The first group of graduates would have medical degrees in the next 2-3 years.

The Tory party initiated Brexit in 2016. Had they put aggressive recruiting and training plans into motion from the time of the vote, Britain could have trained thousands of nurses (3-year course) and doctors (4-5 year course, then 2-years foundation training).

However, the Tory government has not been rooted in reality. They have not approached anything in a practical manner, as they are so wrapped up in Brexit, they never bothered to work out the logistics and fine print of it all.

Now the coronavirus has caught Britain flatfooted, after Johnson and his fellow xenophobic politicians such as Theresa May and Nigel Farage, among others, chased off 10,000 doctors and nurses, as they're tired of foreigners in Britain. Never mind Boris is a foreigner himself. Never mind the name Farage is not British. Never mind May's maiden name is Brasier, which is not British (how ironic that her name is Brasier, as in bra, as she behaved like a real tit).

For the record I'm not against immigration in any country. I'm only trying to point out the absurdity of some people's behavior in being xenophobic when they can't really trace their ancestry in the nation they live. Even if they could it would still be wrong. All xenophobia is wrong.

STORY SOURCE

Johnson set to ramp up UK response to coronavirus

Unease starts to show in Number 10 as measured approach loses public, political and scientific support

15 March 2020 - In an open letter, a group of 229 scientists from UK universities say the government’s current approach would put the NHS under additional stress and “risk many more lives than necessary”.

The World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus denounced Britain’s decision to stop testing people with mild symptoms — essentially an acceptance that coronavirus would inevitably spread widely in the community. “You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is. Find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission,” he said. “Every case we find and treat limits the expansion of the disease.”

https://www.ft.com

The UK backs away from “herd immunity” coronavirus proposal amid blowback

The UK’s chief science adviser suggested allowing the coronavirus to spread to build immunity. Government ministers said they’ll promote self-isolation instead.

Mar 15, 2020, 12:41pm EDT - The United Kingdom is previewing a new self-isolation plan for all people over 70 to address the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, following backlash over a proposal to promote immunity by allowing up to 60 percent of its population to become infected.

On Friday, the UK government’s chief science adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said on BBC Radio 4 that one of “the key things we need to do” is to “build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.”...

https://www.vox.com

I’m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire

Vulnerable people should not be exposed to Covid-19 right now in the service of a hypothetical future

Sun 15 Mar 2020 08.33 EDT - Last modified on Mon 16 Mar 2020 05.47 EDT - Your house is on fire, and the people whom you have trusted with your care are not trying to put it out. Even though they knew it was coming, and could see what happened to the neighbours as they were overwhelmed with terrifying speed, the UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames, in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them.

When I first heard about this, I could not believe it. I research and teach the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health.

https://www.theguardian.com

Britain Drops Its Go-It-Alone Approach to Coronavirus

https://foreignpolicy.com

U.K. resists coronavirus lockdowns, goes its own way on response

March 16, 2020 at 11:57 a.m. EDT - LONDON — Britain’s neighbors in Europe are shutting down the continent to confront the spread of coronavirus: locking pubs in Dublin and cafes in Paris, closing schools, banning travel, enacting curfews and enforcing quarantines not seen since the Middle Ages.

But in London, the bars are still open. The schools, restaurants, gyms, theaters, museums remain mostly open, too — even if attendance is down. Large public gatherings, now forbidden in most of Europe, have not yet been banned in Britain...