Matt Hancock’s Coronavirus Chaos
The Health Secretary Matt Hancock appeared on Sky News this morning to give an utterly confused, and confusing, message about the Coronavirus.
The source of the confusion was his statement that people returning from Northern Italy should self-isolate if they feel unwell.
At roughly the same time as the Health Secretary was giving his bogative advice, the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, said people returning from affected areas should self-isolate whether they have symptoms or not. Then Matt Hancock was reported as saying on BBC Breakfast…
At which point it is necessary (for the concerned citizen) to go to the various government websites to determine if you have been to an ‘affected area’.
Now, this is one day after schools have returned following the half term break. And many of the secondary schools have been on skiing trips to Italy, as well as various other trips around Europe. So it comes as no surprise that no sooner had the mixed messages been sent out, than news reports began of schools closing.
By the end of the day more than a dozen schools had either closed, partially closed or told pupils who had been on such trips to stay at home.
Some readers may wish to place a peg on their nose at this point, as the Daily Mail has a rather useful list of the schools, and where they went skiing.
But back to the government website…
“The FCO advise against all but essential travel to 10 small towns in Lombardy (Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo and San Fiorano) and one in Veneto (Vo’ Euganeo), which have been isolated by the Italian authorities due to an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19). The government of Italy has introduced extraordinary measures that allow regions to implement civil protection measures in response to coronavirus, including the isolation of these towns. See Health.”
Thus using the list from the Daily Mail , it soon becomes clear that not all the pupils (some showing symptoms) traveled to the prohibited region. Not that it matters, because the virus in Italy has spread beyond that quarantined region; with cases being reported in neighbouring Austria, Switzerland and Croatia.
And all of which rather ignores the fact that those pupils (and staff) have potentially now had two days to spread the virus inside the school: a virus that can live for ten days outside of the body. A virus that can spread asymptomatically, and can be asymptomatic for more than thirty days.
But don’t panic, Matt Hancock is confident his plan of containment will work. And as part of the brilliant plan, the NHS have been told not to stockpile face-masks for fear they will run out. And seeing as the manufacturer of the face-masks is in Wuhan resupply might be a problem.
Previous posts…
Feb 3rd — Coronavirus May Be Serious
Feb 4th — Coronavirus Spreading, But Rumours Contained
Feb 5th — Report Says Thousands Killed By Coronavirus in China
Feb 6th — Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories
Feb 7th — Coronavirus Misinformation
Feb 8th — Coronavirus ‘Self Isolates’ China
Feb 9th — China Comes Clean on Coronavirus
Feb 10th — Britain Braces for Coronavirus
Feb 11th — Coronavirus: Chinese Market News
Feb 12th — Coronavirus Relaunches As COVID19
Feb 13th — Coronavirus Figures Explained
Feb 14th — Coronavirus Phoney War
Feb 15th — Coronavirus And AIDS
Feb 16th — Creating the Coronavirus
Feb 17th — Coronavirus Kamikaze
Feb 18th — Coronavirus Conundrum
Feb 19th — China Coronavirus Crisis
Feb 20th — Debunking Coronavirus Conspiracies
Feb 21st — Coronavirus Goes on Tour
Feb 22nd — Coronavirus Grimoire
Feb 23rd — Coronavirus Cannibals
Feb 24th — Coronavirus Facts