The British government’s Covid strategy was never designed to manage the virus | Jana Bacevic and Linsey McGoey
An illusion of incompetence and ignorance has allowed No 10 to exploit the pandemic for economic and political gain
Since the announcement of the removal of all Covid-related restrictions in England, experts have warned of disastrous consequences, from the inevitable spike in cases to new variants emerging. We can hope the government will eventually recognise the public health risks and put some of these measures back into place. However, power and cronyism – and not health needs – are likely to drive any such decision. As the last 18 months have shown, the British government’s Covid-19 strategy was never designed to manage the virus.
For all the talk of “following the science”, No 10’s use of scientific evidence has been adjusted to its policy preferences throughout. The effectiveness of masks in preventing transmission was acknowledged only in the summer of 2020, despite World Health Organization (WHO) guidance earlier in the year. Ventilation only recently became part of public health guidance in England, despite sustained evidence of aerosol transmission. The UK’s continued insistence on fever, cough, and the loss of smell and taste as symptoms of coronavirus stands in tension with research on asymptomatic infections and emerging evidence suggesting loss of smell and taste may not be as common with the Delta variant.
