Coronavirus: Is This the Mother of all Mixed Messages?

BY STUART LITTLEWOOD

The bug is no longer of “high consequence”, says report

*Top image: Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part in Clap for Carers outside NO10 Downing Street during the Coronavirus. Credit: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street/ Flickr

Looking out onto the deserted post-apocalyptical Orwellian landscape of lockdown Britain, where police drones scour the moors to hunt down harmless dog walkers escaping their dreary house arrest, it’s puzzling to find a UK Government website carrying this statement:

Status of COVID-19

"As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK.

The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.

The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.”

Are Government ministers aware of this bombshell in their midst? If experts really have downrated COVID-19’s harmfulness, it doesn’t chime with the way the authorities are stoking public fears. And why would Boris Johnson impose unprecedented controls and make us prisoners in our own homes? Why is he pursuing policies so extreme as to destroy businesses and livelihoods, wreck the economy and force millions into misery and poverty, knowing it will result in years of severe austerity, if the bug is not all it’s cracked up to be?

Why are we receiving such bizarre mixed messages?

Boris failed to close our borders 2 months ago when he should have. And he still hasn’t done it. What’s the point of being an island nation if we don’t isolate ourselves from devastating threats like these? Is there some sort of ‘dark’ agenda here? Is it part of a wider plan?

Boris now has the bug. So has his health secretary Matt Hancock. Both with mild symptoms only, like Prince Charles. The domino effect kicks in…. How many chiefs will fall, and how hard?

STUART LITTLEWOOD

Stuart worked on jet fighters in the RAF. Various sales and marketing management positions in manufacturing, oil and electronics. Senior associate with several industrial marketing consultancies. Graduate Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (MInstM). BA Hons Psychology, University of Exeter.