Test, Trace, Track, Isolate. Then What?

by Les May

I’M REASONABLY sure that the government will some day manage to get a system for testing, tracing, tracking and isolating of people suffering from Covid-19 working.  Probably not as well or as quickly as it has led us to believe, and probably relying on good old ‘shoe leather’ tracing more than the wonderful ‘app’ in which so much faith has been placed, but eventually.

This approach has been successful in South Korea where nationals face up to one year in jail and a fine of 10 million won (nearly £7000) with up to three years in jail and a fine of 20 million won for foreigners, if they fail to quarantine themselves for fourteen days.  Those coming to the UK will be told to isolate themselves for fourteen days with a penalty of £1,000 for those who fail to do so. There will be much smaller fines for residents.

But there seems to be one difference between the way the authorities in South Korea approach this and the way the UK government seem to be doing.  In South Korea those told to quarantine can expect visits to check that they are where they should be, which we are told will happen here, but in South Korea they also have food delivered to their door.

Since late March the advice has been that households where someone has Covid-19 should isolate for fourteen days.  This could become 28 days for some people if someone they live with only becomes symptomatic at the end of the isolation period.

If we are to learn to live with this virus isolation will continue to be an important part of the strategy and it may be required of some individuals more than once. People are more likely to do this if they can be sure that they will not have to worry about feeding themselves.  I’ve not heard anyone speaking for the government say that some thought has been given to the problem of how those who are in home quarantine will feed themselves.  These are practical problems and they need practical answers.  Why not involve local councils and ask them to set up a scheme appropriate to local needs?

****************************** 

Quarantine measures may be introduced at UK airports?

John Holland -Kaye Boss of Heathrow Airport

John Holland, -Kaye, the boss of Heathrow airport, is urging the Government to introduce mass screenings for passengers - temperature checks, antibody tests, and a requirement that passengers carry health passports to "prove they're medically fit." He thinks that British airports are coming under unfair criticism over the Government's decision not to test.


At a time when British citizens are being advised to stay at home and to keep three metres apart and face prosecution and fines for violating lock-down restrictions, you might find it astonishing, that a government source has said, "More than 15,000 people arrive in the UK each day from virus-hit countries."

Incredibly, passengers are just given a leaflet at British airports and told to self-isolate for two-weeks if they feel ill after landing, and walking unchecked, onto the streets of Britain. Officials have admitted that there is no way of enforcing this.


Yet, the screening of passenger arrivals at UK airports, has been ruled out as 'ineffective' by Public Health England. While other countries have introduced screening for passengers at airports, have closed borders, and have restricted air travel, the British Foreign Office have said:


"There is no evidence that interventions like closing borders or travel bans would have any effect on the spread of the infection."


Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that the flow of people coming into the country would not make a significant difference as the virus is already widespread and that screening of passengers at UK airports isn't happening because the number of people has "dropped very dramatically."


On 23 January, Hancock told the House of Commons that the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Christopher John MacRae Whitty, had revised the risk (of contracting Covid-19) to the UK population from low to very low and that;

"While there is an increased likelihood that cases may arise in this country, we are well prepared and well equipped to deal with them. The UK is one of the first countries to have developed a world leading test for the new coronavirus  and the NHS is ready to respond to any cases that emerge... the public can be assured that the whole of the UK is always prepared for these types of outbreaks and will remain vigilant and keep our response under constant review in the light of emerging scientific evidence."

Since the Health Secretary made this statement in January, saying that there was a very low risk to the UK population, and that the Health system was well prepared and well equipped to deal with it, tens of thousands of people in the UK have died of the virus, including many elderly people in care homes, and even Hancock, now admits, that the virus is 'widespread', throughout the UK.

Despite his assurances to the public that the government had everything under control, hospital's across England have reported a lack of personal protective equipment for front-line NHS staff - which is necessary to treat people with the virus, such as surgical gowns, face masks, visors - and a failure to test doctor's and nurses, to see if they're infected. There is also a shortage of respiratory equipment.

The Health Secretary's blase attitude towards this Covid-19 epidemic may well cost thousand of more British lives, and it is questionable, whether Boris Johnson and his government, have really abandoned their initial strategy of letting the coranavirus run its course, a kind of shock therapy, that is to be imposed on most of us.

VIP's, like Johnson, Hancock, and the Prince of Wales, have all had the virus and were tested very quickly and received first class medical treatment. For the rest of us, the hoi polloi, - who've been thrown under a bus, by Johnson, it is 'herd immunity'.