Derry and Strabane was one of the UK’s worst-hit coronavirus hotspots – but Stormont NI-wide lockdown has already succeeded in bringing down hospital admissions
The foolhardy refusal of the Tory government to institute a nationwide ‘fire break’ or ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown in England has been highlighted by breaking news from Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland previously had one of the worst overall rates of infection in the UK – and Derry and Strabane were among the worst-affected in Northern Ireland. Yet already the effect of Stormont’s decision to apply a ‘breaker’ lockdown has caused hospital admissions to fall, while they continue to rise in England:
Crucially, Northern Ireland also closed its schools, which Johnson has refused to countenance, squandering the opportunity to use the half-term break as a natural opportunity to close schools alongside workplaces and non-essential retail.
Johnson’s wilful blindness ignores the fact that schools are now widely acknowledged to be the key driver of the second wave – far ahead of the hospitality sector that the Tories have been all too happy to close again in ‘tier 3’ areas of England.
The news from Northern Ireland comes as scientists warn that the rest of the UK should expect 500 deaths a day and 25,000 patients in hospital at any given moment and death rates very similar to the worst of the spring, by the end of November.
Johnson already has the deaths of tens of thousands on his hands from the first wave. Now he will be to blame for more.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.