John Ashton was the public health director for Cumbria for 13 years
Much has been made of the United Kingdom’s reaction to the coronavirus crisis. The UK had time and perspective to come up with a sensible approach to the virus, having seen what had happened in Italy and Spain just weeks before.
Despite this, Boris Johnson’s government failed to take advantage of this, initially taking on the controversial policy of herd immunity before abandoning it and, eventually, denying it was ever policy to begin with.
While the country is now in lockdown, mistakes are still being made. One of the most difficult for many people to accept is the government’s failure to supply healthcare workers with the adequate resources, namely personal protective equipment.
“These are people that have been put on the frontline to save life. And the government can’t be bothered to pin down the numbers.”
Former public health director @Johnrashton47 criticises the government’s failure to say exactly how many NHS staff have died from COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/nErz4GTAYm
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) April 14, 2020
This lack of PPE has led to a high number of deaths in the NHS, but the exact amount is not yet known, to the public at least. JOE spoke to former health director John Ashton about the government’s failure to say exactly how many NHS staff have died as a result of COVID-19.
Ashton also condemned the fact that deaths from COVID-19 in care homes are not reported among official figures.
“By not counting care home deaths, this reinforces this sense that very elderly, frail folk are not really important.”
Former public health director @Johnrashton47 condemns the lack of reporting of care home deaths. pic.twitter.com/bkjSO4WRyu
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) April 14, 2020
