Are we doing well?

22/02/2021

General
Well, yes.  We are moving in the right direction. Cases are coming down, deaths are coming down and the vaccine roll out is doing better than anyone expected.

But, getting things into perspective, our weekly death rate per head of population is still amongst the highest in the world.  We are now at number 12 (out of 221). But the death rate is falling at about 25% per week which is good. This follow the fall in cases two weeks ago.

Not so good is that the fall in new cases is slowing down. It was falling at about 25% but is now down to 11%.  Scotland and Northern Ireland's new cases have stopped falling altogether.
The deaths will probably not level out as fast as the vaccinations will start to have an effect. But, still the deaths will not be falling as fast as they would be if the new cases were dropping.

This is worrying as Johnson has foolishly committed to re-opening Schools on 8th March.  Reopening schools last year did not have a huge effect.  More worrying is the opening of Universities. If cases fall at the present rate we could  still be having 7000 new cases per day. If they are infectious and spreading the disease for 7 days that means around 1 in a thousand people are spreading the disease. In comprehensive schools with over 1000 pupils that averages one per school. At Universities we have similar figures.

The Government guidance adds that students on higher education courses “who would be unable to complete their courses if they did not return to take part in practical teaching, access specialist facilities, or complete assessments” can return from 8 March.

When the students went back in September 2020 the second wave was triggered and amplified when they went back home for Christmas.

Vaccinations
The Government has said that the entire population will have their first vaccination by July 31st.  Now England hit the 2 million vaccinations per week mark on 23rd January.  So, by 12 weeks later on 17th April, 2 million people per week will be requiring the second dose. We will need to double the vaccination rate to reach the government's date.

Border Control
The government has finally (about a year too late) shut our border to some foreign travellers and require others  to quarantine for ten days.  The contract was given to Mitie - a firm favourite of the government because of it's links with the Tory party.

The record so far
Boris Johnson, and his government have cost England 106,360 deaths. That is  more civilian lives lost than both world wars put together.
His mishandling has placed the England at number 5 in the world for TOTAL deaths, and number 3 in the world for deaths per million of population (behind tiny Gibraltar and San Marino).
Following the covid disaster we can expect a recession, and a lowering of living standards for the next ten years.
Yet, unbelievably, he is still more popular than Kier Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party.
This goes to show what a miserable selection of leaders we have.

England is such a wonderful country, it's just a shame we elect over privileged and bungling fools to run it.