Johnson’s hurry will cause more needless deaths – made worse by his communications blunder
On 11 May, the SKWAWKBOX warned that Boris Johnson’s reckless haste to force millions back to work while infection rates were still high would lead to thousands of pointless, needless deaths – and that this entirely avoidable disaster would be made worse by his blunder in not making clear, on a Sunday night, that he wanted people back to work the following Wednesday, not the very next morning.
Public transport and employers had no time to prepare – the government’s inadequate safety recommendations were not even issued until the Monday afternoon – and huge numbers made their way to work.
Johnson’s wilful endangerment of the British people was inevitably going to drive a new surge in infections – and lead to senselessly lost lives.
Tragically, that prediction is now starting to come true. First a hospital in the south-west had to close its doors even to emergencies, after a sharp increase in cases of the virus. Then Bristol reported a surge – and now London has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus hospital admissions:
That steepling climb began at the beginning of this week – exactly coinciding with the typical incubation period of coronavirus infections transmitted the morning after Johnson’s recklessness – with a gentler rise last week reflecting the shorter incubation period seen in some cases.
The new rate is the highest in around six weeks:
The rise in hospitalisations has also included a rise in ICU admissions:
A less steep, but still significant uptick has been seen in the wider south-east and elsewhere.
The SKWAWKBOX said at the time that Johnson’s actions, which were clearly going to lead to new and avoidable deaths, amounted to murder. That verdict has not changed. And on Monday, the Tories are driving our children back to school as they drove working people back into the workplace.
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