So, coronavirus...

[fishfoodie]

Just saw the shit gibbon telling America that Corona will go away with; "Herd Mentality"

the best bit is, he was on the point of saying "Turd Mentality", saying the Tee, before catching it; which would have been a perfect description of his, & his supporters mental state

[Enzedder]

Just saw the shit gibbon telling America that Corona will go away with; "Herd Mentality"

the best bit is, he was on the point of saying "Turd Mentality", saying the Tee, before catching it; which would have been a perfect description of his, & his supporters mental state

Yeah, I cracked up over that as well

[Hong Kong]

Then, you’ll both love this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54183731

I wonder who to believe...

[Ted.]

151 days without any community cases in our country, you mofos need to do a better job.

We are making plans to move to the south Atlantic and then close the airports.

Given you could do that perfectly easily in the North Atlantic, it seems rather superfluous and bothersome to move. Mind you, your logic was never something anyone should consider for too long.

[Enzedder]

The scrutiny on Sweden continues
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/a ... 1600291958

Covid 19 coronavirus: Doctors, scientists attack Sweden over 'cherry-picked data'
17 Sep, 2020 6:15am
By: Rohan Smith
Sweden's relaxed approach to living with Covid-19 has been the subject of international scrutiny, but now a group of 200 scientists, medical experts and teachers are turning up the heat on the official version of events.

The group, of which Australian expat and former epidemiologist David Steadson is a member, told news.com.au they are challenging "unethical, unresearched and unsubstantiated reporting of the disastrous handling of the pandemic in Sweden".

They have taken exception with what they call "flawed and cherry-picked science" within the Swedish Public Health Agency, which is managing the response to Covid-19.

Keith Begg, the founder of the group, said a recent report by the agency comparing schools in Sweden and Finland was an example of misinformation.

The report aimed to compare the effect of different approaches on the rate of Covid-19 infections among schoolchildren. It noted that Sweden kept schools open and Finland closed them.

"In conclusion, closure or not of schools has had little if any impact on the number of laboratory-confirmed cases in school-aged children in Finland and Sweden," the report noted.

But there's a big problem with that assertion.

As Science Mag noted in May, Sweden missed an opportunity to "definitively answer the question" about infections in schools because "officials have not tracked infections among schoolchildren - even when large outbreaks led to the closure of individual schools".

Begg says the report draws the conclusion there is no difference in the overall incidence of laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases but fails to mention Sweden's leading epidemiologist Anders Tegnell paused the collection of data from children because he thought it would create anxiety among the public.

"The problem with this report and indeed others from the (agency) is that they are now being cited by policy-makers and decision-makers across the world as a way to open schools when the reports are gravely flawed," Begg said.

"They offer a tantalising solution to desperate governments across the world looking for a way to get their societies back on track. But they are based on flawed and cherry-picked science."

An email sent to Begg from a Public Health Agency epidemiologist was seen by news.com.au. It reads, in part: "I'm sorry the report seems to infuriate you so much but this is just a report and not a peer-reviewed scientific study."

It goes on to say: "This was just a quick situation report and nothing more."

Steadson, who joined the group after becoming dismayed with the handling of the pandemic in his new home country, told news.com.au last week that he is "disgusted" with the Swedish public health team.

"The Swedish strategy is not a success, it is a failure," he said.

"Allowing a deadly virus to just spread in the hope of eventual 'herd immunity' made no sense to me scientifically, given our then limited knowledge, and it absolutely made no sense to me ethically.

"People would die unnecessarily and I was frankly disgusted with what I was hearing from the Swedish Public Health Agency."

More than 85,000 people have contracted the virus and 5800 people have died. But in recent weeks, data out of Sweden appears to show a reduction in the spread of the virus in a move that officials have dubbed "vindication" of the Swedish approach.

In the past week, just 1.3 per cent of tests showed Covid-19 cases, compared to more than 19 per cent at the pandemic's peak. The number is lower than in neighbouring Norway and Denmark.

Sweden's cases of Covid-19 peaked on June 24 with 1698 infections according to data compiled the US' Johns Hopkins University. Deaths hit 115 per day on several days in April.

By contrast, neighbouring Denmark, which had a much stricter lockdown, only saw a daily peak of 390 and 22 deaths.

However, Denmark, along with many other European nations, has seen cases swing back up again. Yet infections in Sweden have remained at around 200 or so a day for several months. That's still a lot, but it's a huge drop from where they were and crucially it's stable and seemingly not leading to many fatalities.

Daily deaths sunk into single figures around mid-July and haven't picked up since.

Despite that, editor-in-chief of the Medical Journal of Australia, Dr Nick Talley, says Sweden got it wrong.

"In my view, the Swedish model has not been a success, at least to date," he told news.com.au.

"One clear goal at least early on was to reach herd immunity – but this was not achieved, not even close, and this was arguably predictable.

"There were restrictions put in place but the philosophy was voluntary rather than compulsory. There is evidence there was a major impact of this voluntary lockdown on behaviour as reflected in, for example, reduced mobility and spending. However, the spread of Covid-19 and the death rate was substantially higher in Sweden compared with its neighbours who mandated lockdowns."

This is getting ridiculous - stinks of professional jealousy I think. We'll know in time which is right, wrong or whether both cases were right/wrong.

[Bimbowomxn]

151 days without any community cases in our country, you mofos need to do a better job.

We are making plans to move to the south Atlantic and then close the airports.

Given you could do that perfectly easily in the North Atlantic, it seems rather superfluous and bothersome to move. Mind you, your logic was never something anyone should consider for too long.

Well when you say “easily” you mean almost impossible..... you have no idea of the scale on closing airport here.

[Bimbowomxn]

Then, you’ll both love this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54183731

I wonder who to believe...

Well,I don’t believe masks are MORE important than a vaccine. Jeez.

[Ted.]

We are making plans to move to the south Atlantic and then close the airports.

Given you could do that perfectly easily in the North Atlantic, it seems rather superfluous and bothersome to move. Mind you, your logic was never something anyone should consider for too long.

Well when you say “easily” you mean almost impossible..... you have no idea of the scale on closing airport here.

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

[Ovals]

Given you could do that perfectly easily in the North Atlantic, it seems rather superfluous and bothersome to move. Mind you, your logic was never something anyone should consider for too long.

Well when you say “easily” you mean almost impossible..... you have no idea of the scale on closing airport here.

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

That's total bollocks, of course - but I do love it when people use Bimbo's own type of response, back at him. Not that I see any of his posts unless others quote him.

[fishfoodie]

Well when you say “easily” you mean almost impossible..... you have no idea of the scale on closing airport here.

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

That's total bollocks, of course - but I do love it when people use Bimbo's own type of response, back at him. Not that I see any of his posts unless others quote him.

Indeed; only a fool would try using a phone, when you just need to fly a drone within a few hundred yards of the perimeter, & they'll shutdown for the next week

[Ovals]

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

That's total bollocks, of course - but I do love it when people use Bimbo's own type of response, back at him. Not that I see any of his posts unless others quote him.

Indeed; only a fool would try using a phone, when you just need to fly a drone within a few hundred yards of the perimeter, & they'll shutdown for the next week

[Hal Jordan]

Dido Harding holding up about as well as can be expected in front of the Commons select committee.

[fishfoodie]

Dido Harding holding up about as well as can be expected in front of the Commons select committee.

Not able to stay the course, or did she fall at the first fence ?

[ScarfaceClaw]

Dido Harding holding up about as well as can be expected in front of the Commons select committee.

Not able to stay the course, or did she fall at the first fence ?

No one was willing to stuff a fist full of ginger up her arse.

[The Druid]

Dido Harding holding up about as well as can be expected in front of the Commons select committee.

Not able to stay the course, or did she fall at the first fence ?

This is Well worth the read.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/di ... 70500.html

The incredible story of how a woman called Dido Harding came to be in charge of her country’s testing programme during a once-in-a-century pandemic, despite having no qualifications for the role, really begins a very long time ago.

Would she have got the job had she not already been made chair of NHS Improvement in 2017, despite her having to step down from her previous role as chairman of Talk Talk – when four million of her customers had their personal data stolen by two 15-year-old boys?

Would she have been made chair of NHS Improvement if she had not already been appointed a Conservative peer in 2014?

Would she have been appointed a Conservative peer in 2014 if her and her Conservative MP husband John Penrose had not been great chums with then prime minister David Cameron?

Would she have been great chums with David Cameron if she had not hung out with him at Oxford, during the (still ongoing) period in the former prime minister’s life in which you only really got to be his friend if you had parents who would buy you a £3,500 morning suit solely to be worn while smashing up the backroom of unsuspecting country pubs?

And would she have hung out with David Cameron at Oxford if she had not been born, 52 years ago, to the 2nd Baron Harding of Petherton?
Read more

Demand for coronavirus testing outstripping capacity ‘three to four times’, Dido Harding admits
Demand for coronavirus testing outstripping capacity ‘three to four times’, Dido Harding admits

All these are counterfactuals. We can never know the roads that were not taken, only the one that led us here, to where Baroness Harding of Winscombe was sitting before a House of Commons Select Committee, explaining how, actually, it turns out that the coronavirus test-and-trace programme, contrary to everything you’ve read, seen, heard, lived and breathed is in actually going really really well.

Of course, there is no reason to doubt the Baroness’s business acumen. It is not her fault, for example, that on her watch in 2010 and 2011 Talk Talk twice won the This Is Money website’s “wooden spoon” award for Worst Customer Service, voted for by customers. And it must also be somebody else’s fault that she thought it was a good idea to agree to pose for photographs holding the wooden spoon in question.

Then there is the story of the testing programme itself to consider, whose timeline is roughly as follows.
✕

January 2020: Deadly pandemic breaks out.

February 2020: World Health Organisation issues three word advice: “Test. Test. Test.”

UK’s Deputy Chief Medical Offer Jenny Harries responds by saying: “There comes a stage in a pandemic where testing is not an appropriate intervention.”

March 2020. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty advises people with coronavirus symptoms to self-isolate at home and don’t get tested.

April 2020. Matt Hancock decides testing is in fact important. Launches drive to “100,000 test a day” target.

May 2020. Matt Hancock announces his own success in reaching his 100,000 a day target, which turns out to have been through putting 35,000 tests in the post the previous day.

Dido Harding is put in charge of test-and-trace programme. Boris Johnson promises it will be “world-beating”.

June 2020. Matt Hancock says at the despatch box of the House of Commons, “If you’ve got symptoms, if you’re in any doubt. Get a test.”

July 2020. Government starts bribing people to go to pubs and restaurants, and threatening people with redundancy if they don’t go back to the office.

August 2020. Infection rate begins to soar. People going to pubs are blamed.

September 2020. Schools reopen. Infection rates rise to more than 4,000 a day. The “world beating” test-and-trace system is running at full capacity. Parents in London with coughing children are advised to drive them to Inverness if they want a test. If they don’t get a test the child can’t go to school and the parents can’t go to work.

Dido Harding tells a House of Commons Select Committee: “I don't think anybody was expecting to see the really sizeable increase in demand that we've seen over the course of the last few weeks."

In fairness, did anyone foresee schools going back? Does anyone really know what time of year it happens? Just like A-Level results, these things are a mystery to us all.

[Bimbowomxn]

Given you could do that perfectly easily in the North Atlantic, it seems rather superfluous and bothersome to move. Mind you, your logic was never something anyone should consider for too long.

Well when you say “easily” you mean almost impossible..... you have no idea of the scale on closing airport here.

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

You’ve no idea of the scale from where you are.

[Ted.]

Well when you say “easily” you mean almost impossible..... you have no idea of the scale on closing airport here.

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

That's total bollocks, of course - but I do love it when people use Bimbo's own type of response, back at him. Not that I see any of his posts unless others quote him.

[Ted.]

Yes, it must take several phone calls at least.

That's total bollocks, of course - but I do love it when people use Bimbo's own type of response, back at him. Not that I see any of his posts unless others quote him.

Indeed; only a fool would try using a phone, when you just need to fly a drone within a few hundred yards of the perimeter, & they'll shutdown for the next week

It seems it ain't that hard to do after all.

[Tichtheid]

Boris Johnson and his ministers chose to ignore scientists and outsource their Covid response to big private companies


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rfgGv-4uuE

[Bimbowomxn]

Boris Johnson and his ministers chose to ignore scientists and outsource their Covid response to big private companies


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rfgGv-4uuE

Says a Marxist.


The biggest issue with testing was the delay from PHE to engage the private sector early enough.

Harding on the other hand is one of life’s useless individuals (Chris grayling bad).

[Bimbowomxn]

Matt Hancock was eviscerated by JHB this morning.

A particular low light

JHB : how many people are in hospital in Bolton with Covid 19

Matt Hancock : Lots

JHB : it’s 2, is 2 now lots......

[SaintK]

Matt Hancock was eviscerated by JHB this morning.

A particular low light

JHB : how many people are in hospital in Bolton with Covid 19

Matt Hancock : Lots

JHB : it’s 2, is 2 now lots......

I like her. Very to the point.
Hancock is getting worse by the week both under scrutiny in parliament or in interview

[dpedin]

Tichtheid a marxist! FFS Bimbo is plumbing new depths now!

The private sector Test and Trace system has been a bit of a disaster I am afraid. The organisation and management of this has been awful and, despite the herculean efforts of individuals employed, it is a major failure that will lead us into another national lockdown. From the awarding of contracts to the passing of detailed data on positive tests to local PH teams it has been a catalogue to major management and leadership cock ups. I know from speaking to PH guys I know up here in Scotland that they have been pulling their hair out trying to work with the Pillar 2 testing companies. Asking ex jockey and failed CEO Dido Harding to lead this work, without any selection process and real credentials for the job, has proven to be a major cock up.

The previous posting about Dido also forgot to mention the links between Dido being a member of the Jockey Club board and Hancock having his constituency in Newmarket and is personally heavily funded by the racing industry and both agreed to let Cheltenham Festival go ahead despite the impending lock down in March. The whole thing stinks, I assume it is just coincidence that Rupert Soames, PPE from Oxford, ex Bulington Club member, ex President of the Ox Union and brother of Nicholas, is CEO of Serco?

We are being ripped off here - just imagine what the NHS and their network of labs could have done with the cash spaffed up the wall with Deloittes and Serco, and their numerous sub contractors. The NHS wouldn't have done any worse and as a minimum everything would have been done transparently and auditable and there would have been clear governance arrangements in place. Hancock wouldn't even tell the HoC, when asked, if there were contractual financial penalties in place for those private companies that couldn't deliver the test and trace system. They may be poshly spoken gone to an elite University and are members of the establishment but in reality they are just crooks taking billions in dodgy contracts then failing to deliver. If in doubt then just read the work Jo Maugham and Good Law Project is leading on re HMG awarding of contracts without any due process.

If Tichtheid is a marxist then I suppose I must be too? Fecks sake first time I knew I was!

[fishfoodie]

Congratulations to the blond buffoon on winning, with others, an Ig Nobel award !

a well deserved recognition of his, efforts, to tackle Covid.

Medical Education: Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, Narendra Modi of India, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Donald Trump of the USA, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, for using the Covid-19 viral pandemic to teach the world that politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can.

[SaintK]

Tichtheid a marxist! FFS Bimbo is plumbing new depths now!

The private sector Test and Trace system has been a bit of a disaster I am afraid. The organisation and management of this has been awful and, despite the herculean efforts of individuals employed, it is a major failure that will lead us into another national lockdown. From the awarding of contracts to the passing of detailed data on positive tests to local PH teams it has been a catalogue to major management and leadership cock ups. I know from speaking to PH guys I know up here in Scotland that they have been pulling their hair out trying to work with the Pillar 2 testing companies. Asking ex jockey and failed CEO Dido Harding to lead this work, without any selection process and real credentials for the job, has proven to be a major cock up.

The previous posting about Dido also forgot to mention the links between Dido being a member of the Jockey Club board and Hancock having his constituency in Newmarket and is personally heavily funded by the racing industry and both agreed to let Cheltenham Festival go ahead despite the impending lock down in March. The whole thing stinks, I assume it is just coincidence that Rupert Soames, PPE from Oxford, ex Bulington Club member, ex President of the Ox Union and brother of Nicholas, is CEO of Serco?

We are being ripped off here - just imagine what the NHS and their network of labs could have done with the cash spaffed up the wall with Deloittes and Serco, and their numerous sub contractors. The NHS wouldn't have done any worse and as a minimum everything would have been done transparently and auditable and there would have been clear governance arrangements in place. Hancock wouldn't even tell the HoC, when asked, if there were contractual financial penalties in place for those private companies that couldn't deliver the test and trace system. They may be poshly spoken gone to an elite University and are members of the establishment but in reality they are just crooks taking billions in dodgy contracts then failing to deliver. If in doubt then just read the work Jo Maugham and Good Law Project is leading on re HMG awarding of contracts without any due process.

If Tichtheid is a marxist then I suppose I must be too? Fecks sake first time I knew I was!

Think Bimbo was referring to the journalist who wrote the article in the link?
The whole testing shambles is an absolute scandal particularly the way PHE were sidelined initially.
Still Serco and Deloittes will be happy raking in the cash on contracts that weren't put out to tender. Hancock and Harding have both recently refused to confirm if there were any penalty clauses in the contracts for failure to achieve targets
Happy Days if your a consultant to this bunch

[ASMO]

Tichtheid a marxist! FFS Bimbo is plumbing new depths now!

The private sector Test and Trace system has been a bit of a disaster I am afraid. The organisation and management of this has been awful and, despite the herculean efforts of individuals employed, it is a major failure that will lead us into another national lockdown. From the awarding of contracts to the passing of detailed data on positive tests to local PH teams it has been a catalogue to major management and leadership cock ups. I know from speaking to PH guys I know up here in Scotland that they have been pulling their hair out trying to work with the Pillar 2 testing companies. Asking ex jockey and failed CEO Dido Harding to lead this work, without any selection process and real credentials for the job, has proven to be a major cock up.

The previous posting about Dido also forgot to mention the links between Dido being a member of the Jockey Club board and Hancock having his constituency in Newmarket and is personally heavily funded by the racing industry and both agreed to let Cheltenham Festival go ahead despite the impending lock down in March. The whole thing stinks, I assume it is just coincidence that Rupert Soames, PPE from Oxford, ex Bulington Club member, ex President of the Ox Union and brother of Nicholas, is CEO of Serco?

We are being ripped off here - just imagine what the NHS and their network of labs could have done with the cash spaffed up the wall with Deloittes and Serco, and their numerous sub contractors. The NHS wouldn't have done any worse and as a minimum everything would have been done transparently and auditable and there would have been clear governance arrangements in place. Hancock wouldn't even tell the HoC, when asked, if there were contractual financial penalties in place for those private companies that couldn't deliver the test and trace system. They may be poshly spoken gone to an elite University and are members of the establishment but in reality they are just crooks taking billions in dodgy contracts then failing to deliver. If in doubt then just read the work Jo Maugham and Good Law Project is leading on re HMG awarding of contracts without any due process.

If Tichtheid is a marxist then I suppose I must be too? Fecks sake first time I knew I was!

Think Bimbo was referring to the journalist who wrote the article in the link?
The whole testing shambles is an absolute scandal particularly the way PHE were sidelined initially.
Still Serco and Deloittes will be happy raking in the cash on contracts that weren't put out to tender. Hancock and Harding have both recently refused to confirm if there were any penalty clauses in the contracts for failure to achieve targets
Happy Days if your a consultant to this bunch

A simple FOI request to see the contract will do, Govt must publish all contracts they award.

[Bimbowomxn]

Tichtheid a marxist! FFS Bimbo is plumbing new depths now!

I was referring to the articles author. He’s a Marxist.

[Bimbowomxn]

The problem with initial testing wasn’t that PHE was sidelined it was they resisted at PHE all private sector help .... that lasted months .

PHE totally at fault .

[Bimbowomxn]

A simple FOI request to see the contract will do, Govt must publish all contracts they award.

I suspect the lunatics have covered that with the emergency law.

[ASMO]

A simple FOI request to see the contract will do, Govt must publish all contracts they award.

I suspect the lunatics have covered that with the emergency law.

Would not be unusual for these clowns to break the law again to cover their arse, but under current laws they must release the information, they only recourse they have is if the cost of servicing the request exceeds £600.00...which it wont.

[Biffer]

A simple FOI request to see the contract will do, Govt must publish all contracts they award.

I suspect the lunatics have covered that with the emergency law.

Would not be unusual for these clowns to break the law again to cover their arse, but under current laws they must release the information, they only recourse they have is if the cost of servicing the request exceeds £600.00...which it wont.

The 'out' here is that anything which is commercial in confidence doesn't have to be released under FOI. And it's very easy to argue that penalty clauses would qualify for that. Not saying I agree, just saying that's a line which can be taken without being a lunatic.

[SaintK]

The problem with initial testing wasn’t that PHE was sidelined it was they resisted at PHE all private sector help .... that lasted months .

PHE totally at fault .

.....and the private sector like Deloittes who set up and manage the Lighthouse Lab network totally innocent? I think not

[Lobby]

I suspect the lunatics have covered that with the emergency law.

Would not be unusual for these clowns to break the law again to cover their arse, but under current laws they must release the information, they only recourse they have is if the cost of servicing the request exceeds £600.00...which it wont.

The 'out' here is that anything which is commercial in confidence doesn't have to be released under FOI. And it's very easy to argue that penalty clauses would qualify for that. Not saying I agree, just saying that's a line which can be taken without being a lunatic.

While they could withhold the precise terms of any penalty clauses under that exemption, if the question is 'did they include penalty clauses' rather than 'what are the penalty terms' the exemption would be unlikely to apply.

[ASMO]

Would not be unusual for these clowns to break the law again to cover their arse, but under current laws they must release the information, they only recourse they have is if the cost of servicing the request exceeds £600.00...which it wont.

The 'out' here is that anything which is commercial in confidence doesn't have to be released under FOI. And it's very easy to argue that penalty clauses would qualify for that. Not saying I agree, just saying that's a line which can be taken without being a lunatic.

While they could withhold the precise terms of any penalty clauses under that exemption, if the question is 'did they include penalty clauses' rather than 'what are the penalty terms' the exemption would be unlikely to apply.

Commercial in confidence is on every contract and it does not override the public interest test which these are subject to.

[Lobby]

The 'out' here is that anything which is commercial in confidence doesn't have to be released under FOI. And it's very easy to argue that penalty clauses would qualify for that. Not saying I agree, just saying that's a line which can be taken without being a lunatic.

While they could withhold the precise terms of any penalty clauses under that exemption, if the question is 'did they include penalty clauses' rather than 'what are the penalty terms' the exemption would be unlikely to apply.

Commercial in confidence is on every contract and it does not override the public interest test which these are subject to.

Indeed, and FOI also requires that public sector bodies should not agree restrictive confidentiality clauses.

[eldanielfire]

The problem with initial testing wasn’t that PHE was sidelined it was they resisted at PHE all private sector help .... that lasted months .

PHE totally at fault .

PHE is trash, but The Government has been hugely flawed in this awarding contracts to clueless friends rather than those in the business. It's no coincidence that posters here pointed out the most COVID infected area of Australia got that way through a private contracts where other states used the public sector and didn't.

[Bimbowomxn]

The problem with initial testing wasn’t that PHE was sidelined it was they resisted at PHE all private sector help .... that lasted months .

PHE totally at fault .

.....and the private sector like Deloittes who set up and manage the Lighthouse Lab network totally innocent? I think not

Maybe not , but they aren’t the problem in March and April, PHE tried and failed to do all of it.

[Bimbowomxn]

The problem with initial testing wasn’t that PHE was sidelined it was they resisted at PHE all private sector help .... that lasted months .

PHE totally at fault .

PHE is trash, but The Government has been hugely flawed in this awarding contracts to clueless friends rather than those in the business. It's no coincidence that posters here pointed out the most COVID infected area of Australia got that way through a private contracts where other states used the public sector and didn't.

And yet private providers did fine in Germany and Switzerland.

[I like neeps]

The problem with initial testing wasn’t that PHE was sidelined it was they resisted at PHE all private sector help .... that lasted months .

PHE totally at fault .

PHE is trash, but The Government has been hugely flawed in this awarding contracts to clueless friends rather than those in the business. It's no coincidence that posters here pointed out the most COVID infected area of Australia got that way through a private contracts where other states used the public sector and didn't.

And yet private providers did fine in Germany and Switzerland.

Were the providers for profit companies?

Serco has a long list of failures and Deloitte are being fined all over the shop. Too big to fail even though they fail repeatedly.

[tabascoboy]

Sage documents also say only one in five people are fully self-isolating at home when they get symptoms.

Isn't the need to travel to a test centre to confirm that you have/haven't the virus making this somewhat self -defeating? Even with drive-through sites, if you can't drive yourself (either you don't drive or are too unwell) and you have symptoms already then you're putting someone else at risk to get you there.