Muddled thinking and reactive decision-making have made the UK one of the countries worst affected by Covid-19. The Government did not take proactive steps to enforce lockdown, secure PPE for health staff or increase testing capacity. But it did keep the NHS within capacity and has now raised testing to a level that will allow community testing. Testing and tracing in the community and at all entry points, masks for all, and shielding the vulnerable should form the core of the strategy as the Government tries to find a way to gradually ease the lockdown. And they must prepare for a likely second wave in winter.
Dr Miraz Rahman, Reader in Medicinal Chemistry, King’s College London
In his Comment (April 30 ), Mayor Sadiq Khan is right to suggest things will not and must not be the same as life before the pandemic. For now, we have one request: please can we have a safe way to get to work? None of us drive to work, and if we did, we’d struggle to park at our hospitals, surgeries and universities. We rely on public transport, walking and cycling.
It is vital that London catches up with cities like Berlin, Bogata and Brussels: all have ambitious plans to make streets safer for physically separated walking and cycling. Now is no time for half-measures.
Dr Robert Hughes, Clinical Research Fellow in Epidemiology and Population Health; Dr Patrick Howlett, Respiratory Registrar; Dr Deepa Shah, GP; Dr Alexander Robertson, Emergency Medicine Registrar; Dr Richard Crowson, Emergency medicine doctor; Dr Rita Issa, Academic GP Registrar; Dr Jack Milln, Senior Registrar in Diabetes; Gary Wester, Lecturer; Dr Chris Newman, GP; Dr Silas Fuller, Junior Doctor; Dr Jonathan Fluxman GP; Dr Tom Yates, Specialist Registrar in Infectious Diseases and General Medicine; Dr Rachel Nunn, Elderly Care Consultant; Dr Alex Armitage, Paediatric Registrar; Dr Keir Philip, Respiratory Doctor; Dr Stephanie Wilmore, Doctor; Dr Sveta Alladi, Consultant Paediatrician; Liz Andresen, Student Social Worker; Dr Sarah Finer, Diabetes Consultant; Dr Isobel Spender; Dr Nadia Audhali; Dr Tim Spruell Emergency Department Doctor; Dr Toby Hillman, Consultant Respiratory Physician
Editor's reply
Dear Doctors
There is little doubt Britain was not as well prepared as we could have been. The excuse is that like almost all other nations we’d only planned for a pandemic flu. That meant the ramp-up in hospital capacity worked well, but we had big problems with things unique to Covid, like ease of transmission, hence the need for more PPE, and the absence of tests and vaccines.
But we’ve had weeks to prepare public transport, workplaces and civic spaces for the next phase, as we ease lockdown. Governments and city halls will not be able to claim they didn’t see it coming.
George Osborne, Editor
