Track and trace only works well with a small number of cases.
During the summer the UK had ~ 700 cases per day. We now have ~ 20000 cases per day. In summer T&T staff were sitting around doing very little, they are now completely overwhelmed.
Some fault lies in a failure to make best use of local facilites when cases were low, and delays in implementing the second lockdown. But a national T&T infrstructure is needed to cope with huge regional and total variations in the volume of cases.
Cultural differences play a major part in the way infection is controlled. Compare the UK with (say) S.Korea who have limited the spread. Their T&T not only uses phone data, but also correlates this with credit card data and CCTV. Culturally they are far more inclined to behave with regard for society.
S.Korea also had the capacity from the outset to test those identified by T&T, and are far more likely to police adherence to the rules than the "by consent" approach of the UK.
Concerns for privacy and the rights of an individual over the needs of society in the UK mean the UK will never achieve Korean levels of infection control.
The UK public need to accept they are in large part responsible responsible for T&T failures. They clearly prioritise privacy and personal rights above the economic impacts and deaths associated with failing to manage the pandemic less well than was possible.
Blaming the government is simply a cop out - they have been far from perfect, but the public by their actions (as a group) need to accept their share of responsibility for the outcomes.
|
