EVERYONE will have their own memory of being blindsided by the Coronavirus pandemic - from those forced to keep their distance as loved ones died on hospital wards, to health workers risking their lives, businesses facing ruin and children suddenly cut off from their classmates.
But as the damning first report from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found, those tasked with anticipating such a threat to millions of lives were “dangerously mistaken” in their preparations.
The underlying anger was clear during Inquiry Chair Baroness Heather Hallett’s frank statement on Thursday afternoon.
Not content to wait until all sections of the Inquiry conclude in 2026 - by which time the headline-grabbing moments of partygate and PPE shortages will be examined - she wants preparations for the future to start immediately.
This includes slashing the red tape around responses to national emergencies, pandemic drills once every three years and the creation of a single body that can coordinate a whole system response including everyone from experts to grassroots volunteers.
For those hoping global pandemics only attack once a century, there was a stark warning that a potentially more lethal and transmissible ‘Disease X’ was actually likely to emerge in “the near to medium future”.
Further reading in the report also states how Sinn Féin’s collapse of the Stormont Executive between 2017-20 “exacerbated” the structural problems facing Northern Ireland in preparing for the pandemic, with the inquiry to consider this in greater detail during future modules.
Lady Hallett also signalled her intent that the inquiry will not be doomed to gather dust like so many others, but that she would be personally monitoring how the report’s recommendations are implemented.
“I have no hesitation in concluding that the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures across the UK failed the citizens of all four nations,” she said.
“There were serious errors on the part of the state and serious flaws in our civil emergency systems. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”
The UK Chair of the BMA Council, Professor Philip Banfield, goes further in stating the report reveals “in all its true horror how appallingly under-prepared” the governments were for the pandemic – with a failure to learn from 15 years-worth of simulation exercises that predicted staffing and PPE shortages.
“The BMA finds that the UK is still poorly equipped, understaffed and underprepared to manage a future pandemic when it comes,” he said.
While individuals have yet to be singled out for blame, Lady Hallett’s opening salvo makes it clear that the initial preparations for the pandemic were dire in all four UK nations, and the inquiry should already serve as a loud and ominous warning bell for todays’ politicians.
