There are lots of people out there who sincerely believe that the government are not responsible for COVID deaths: in the end we all managed our own risks. Personal responsibility and health is a large part of Tory ideology. In this case they are very wrong. https://twitter.com/lightbu79990070/status/1276084241282015233

It wasn’t possible for anyone to reduce their risk to zero. Shopping, mail, deliveries, exercise: all posed some risk. The size of that background risk depended partly on the person and their circumstances (care homes residents, health, race, age).

But it main depends on the amount of circulating virus in the community: at v low levels the risk falls to almost zero; at high levels people are almost unable avoid exposure.

Reducing total cases to reduce risk of death for vulnerable people was never central to the government’s strategy. It still isn’t. The first thing you learn in public health is track & trace. Literally the first class, first day. Start w John Snow in 1854 and go from there.

We actively decided not to do that. We still aren’t doing it. The majority of new cases are not contacted to see who they may have exposed.

So your dead relatives or your on going health problems due to COVID aren’t your fault. They are in this case down to the govement’s incompetance/ laziness/ callousness.

(I have a degree in public health - I mean it when I say contact tracing is literally the most basic thing in the world. It is staggering how badly we’re doing this. But yay the pubs are open so let’s a have a week of fun headlines about that)