The UK government has cancelled plans for thousands of new ventilators after they turned out to be unfit for treating patients with Covid-19. Its target of reaching 100,000 virus tests a day by the end of April seems little closer. In parts of the country, volunteers are sewing gowns from old clothes amid continuing delays in providing protective gear to frontline medical staff. Shortages of both equipment and testing are worsening an unfolding tragedy in care homes for the elderly. Viewed from countries such as Germany, whose death rate from coronavirus is a fraction of Britain’s, the government’s competence appears questionable.
True, Britain’s handling of the pandemic is well short of the chaos in Washington. Since the government belatedly changed strategy from “mitigating” to “suppressing” the virus a month ago, its lockdown measures have mirrored those of many European neighbours, whose own strategies have not been faultless. Moreover, the rapid opening of huge pop-up Nightingale hospitals in London and elsewhere has been impressive. As the virus nears its peak, beds and intensive care places are still available. Opinion polls show a fearful country is backing the government and the handling of the crisis.
Yet the Conservative administration is still battling to overcome years of underfunding that left the NHS far less well equipped to confront the pandemic than many European health systems, and its own failures to do adequate planning in January and February. While ministers say the step-up in testing will not be a straight line but will eventually accelerate, the language of a 100,000-a-day target was softened this week to an “ambition”. Different parts of the system are engaged in finger-pointing over the delays to protective equipment.
The government and officials sent out to inform the public must be more candid. Last month’s broader strategy switch was accompanied by a communications reset, introducing daily press conferences by ministers flanked by experts. But ministers rapidly defaulted to the same defensive posture as before, repeating the government’s favoured three-word slogans while ducking key questions.
Officials counter that the simple messages have cut through, pointing to far greater than expected public compliance with lockdown rules. To carry the country with them through the long months of easing — and potentially reapplying — restrictions, however, they will need to establish a deeper basis of trust. The public can understand more than slogans, and accepts that errors will occur. It deserves clear explanations of failures, and how they will be remedied. Obfuscation will, over time, sap approval.
That also means being more open, even as the government extends the lockdown on Thursday, over the eventual exit strategy. Businesses and families need to understand how the transition towards normality will happen so they can plan and prepare. The cabinet should be bolder, too, in bringing in outside expertise. Operations chiefs — potentially from the private sector — could oversee testing, equipment, and care homes. Beyond the government, efforts to ensure parliament can meet in virtual sessions to hold the executive to account should be accelerated.
The government has been given a lift by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recovery from his own near-death experience. But his full return to official business will take time. Until he is back, those spearheading the virus response must be ready to level with the public over exactly what mistakes have been made — and what is being done to fix them.
