It might even out given time and the vaccinations.
It would be comforting if an independent enquiry established why the UK did so badly.
Can't see that happening, maybe an enquiry but in the government's control.
Maybe they will stack the enquiry but it will still need a huge Reality Distortion Field to avoid pointing out three killer mistakes:
1. ignoring WHO advice on testing back in Feb/March and wasting over a month before the U-turn on 1/2 April — as late as 26 March, Dep CMO Harries was saying the WHO advice was aimed at poor countries and not appropriate for the UK, while Germany had built over 10 times our test capacity from a similar starting point;
2. unlocking too much too fast in July/August and then being slow with lockdown 2 — too fast because case numbers were still too high, while too much at once made it impossible to tell which measures had the most effect, which should have been useful in managing later waves; and did clinging to the tiers for too long and allowing case numbers to build mean variants became much more likely?
3. Happy Christmas Covid — unlocking in early December before case numbers were low enough, holding on to the Christmas bubbles long after it was obviously an unpopular and dumb idea, and forcing schools to open. Suspicions are that these moves were for economic reasons, but it may have been a straight-out classic Johnson dither, being unwilling to face bad news.
All of these could be learned from, but there seems no sign of it, so I fear another premature unlocking and a fourth wave with a long leading edge while Boris dithers meaning another far higher death toll than a short spike.
