Let the blame game begin. As some countries begin tentatively relaxing their lockdown measures, politicians in others are coming under criticism for their handling of the crisis. Voters are starting to wonder why some states have seemingly weathered the pandemic better than they others. Lessons are being learned from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and others.
We all face a common foe in COVID-19. The virus does not discriminate (though there may be evidence it affects some communities more than others). People have finally set aside political differences and come together. Or, actually, maybe not. Perhaps it’s all the World Health Organisation’s fault. Or maybe let’s blame it on the Chinese. Or the Americans. Or conservatives. Or liberals.
Let’s not forget that the crisis is still ongoing. Even those countries coming out of lockdown are doing so cautiously, and may reintroduce social distancing measures if cases of the virus start to surge. Nobody is out of the woods yet, and it may be too early to start apportioning blame.
Certainly, politicians do need to be held to account for their decisions. However, we still don’t have an accurate picture of how the pandemic is playing out in different countries. We do not yet know the true infection rate or fatality rate of the virus. The fatality rate, in particular, is contentious, with most countries only recording deaths in hospitals, leaving out deaths in care homes from the official figures.
Is the coronavirus crisis being politicised? Is the pandemic bringing us all together, or has the political blame game started already? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions.
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Of course. Some governments do the job some don t..
The media are trying to use it against the government in the UK but its backfiring. 55%approval of Boris and media trust sliding to new lows
Are you sure THAT is what is happening? Not a big mouth whose strategy turned against himself and many other people?
But that doesnt need to be connected to a good crisis management…
Other states and approaches
veryone needs to manage it according to their own data. Differing population densities, differing cultures and legal structures, differing levels of self sufficiency in supply chains etc. We are very different from mainland Europe. One thing it certainly shows is globalism is a bust flush and we shouldn’t be so dependent on others, especially for food security. At least we will have our own fish back soon
Sure…
you are obviously pro EU and pro globalism, where are you from?
German…but that doesnt matter now. You are mixi ng political hopes and crisis management. So basically you are politicizing it right now
not at all, it was an additional comment. Most people who criticise the government are looking to score an underlying point about something else I find. I love Germany by the way, used to live there for about five years, shame Berlin has been wrecked by migrants, would feel safe there now
It is still the same berlin as always
Boris Johnson is extremely fortunate his own earlier policy didn’t kill him.
It’s difficult to believe anyone’s behind him at this point.
I suppose that’s for us British people to decide isn’t it?
all polls show the people are broadly behind the PM, the media hate that they lost their pro EU argument and Boris won the election so decisively
and most people I know think the government have done well considering the hiding of info by China and the scale of the issue. Anyone can pick holes after the event
Maybe because these people dont have an outside perspective
of what
do you mean they don’t live inside the m25
that’s a matter of opinion, same for Paris, turned into a third world hell hole
In Spain, France and Italy there is war like propaganda, Military and Police take away basic rights from people like I only knew it from dictatorships. Very dark times. The virus itself is basically a flew with characteristic of a severe Influenca. Nothing special.
and you are a medical doctor in… McDonalds?
thank you for the medical insight, that contradicts the real doctors, facts, and reality
well its my opinion and I’m very much open to a discussion based on facts, are you?
Lots of smoke and mirrors behind this nasty virus.
well it clears up. Inform yourself, not on conspiracy sides but from specialists from the top Universities. The messages are meanwhile pretty much the same everywhere.
btw I agree with you!
opinions from “experts” are a dime a dozen.
The facts are clear. We just need to look at Italy and other countries, which had slow response with the implementation of restrictive measures.
The military had to come in to transport the dead in Italy. In New York, they started storing the dead in freezer trucks.
Then look at the numbers – how many recover from the virus, and how many die. UK stopped reporting the “recovered” numbers as they are very low.
If you think “it’s just a flu” sign a document that you don’t want medical help, and go volunteer in your nearby hospital that deals with COVID infections.
please see what I wrote, a flew with Influenca characteristic. I don’t follow the US but in Europe the virus follows almost 100% the excess mortality death rate of a severe Influenca Pandemie like those in 2017. So it’s a serios illness. I just wrote flew because we know corona as a flew virus, and, kind of positive fun fact, in the moment seros sources discuss that there might be a background immunity of people who had the flew in the last year. Hope that will prove true.
try saying it’s only flu when you are in intensive care fighting to breathe
please read carefully , I say it’s a flew with Influenca characteristic. Influenca is a serios desease. Why are you quoting 1/2 of a sentence and not the other half. That’s how fake news are created.
HJo said: “In Europe the virus follows almost 100% the excess mortality death rate of a severe Influenca Pandemie like those in 2017”
I assume you’re basing that on the official death figures. For example, in Italy, the 2016/2017 flu epidemic is estimated to have killed roughly 25,000 people.
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971219303285
That was a particularly bad year. The average excess mortality from flu over the four-year period of the study cited was 17,000.
As I type this, however, Italy’s official hospital death toll from COVID-19 is roughly 27,000. So, that’s already worse than flu, and the pandemic is not over yet.
The problem is that the official hospital death figures in Italy underestimate the actual number by an average of 90%. In some parts of Italy, it’s even worse; in Bergamo, for example, excess mortality is over 450% higher.
So, this is already twice as bad as a really bad flu year, and in some places four or five times as bad… and the pandemic is still ongoing.
Source:
https://www.ft.com/content/6bd88b7d-3386-4543-b2e9-0d5c6fac846c
Yeah, I would say HJo is dabbling in fake news here. In February, the WHO Director-General said: “Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous.” That still seems about right, even after two months and millions more infected. Why do you think he said that?
Is the coronavirus crisis being politicised?
The handling of this entire scenario to date has been and is now appalling. It is the equivalent of the lowest intellect of government practice on the face of the earth. The Western governments appear to be entirely brainless. Either that, or they intend it to spread the way it has. The trick is to reveal the motive for this incompetence. And there has to be one. They are not doing this without reason. The motives are usually financial in some way.
However, I agree with Trump on this cutting off the funds of those who are playing the game of selectivity to pay in order to reduce. It should include a lot more than the WHO. The UN and others should be way up there with them.
And why is the UK, or anywhere else, begging other countries for PPE, medicines and various other items they need to have in abundant supply for their own people? We are a nation of almost 70 million people, half of them in dire need of employment. Why on earth would we as a nation be sending our necessary medical equipment to other countries whilst our own health care workers are dying in the hundreds for need of them? Are our own people second class to these other nationals. Are the people who pay for our stock to save their life unimportant when it comes to being first in line?
Many people at the top need kicking out and fast. We British are not only first in deserving of our lives and our normality we are paying through the nose for it. Others, no matter who they are, are second in line and always must be. Just as your family are always first for your charity or compassion. Globalism is a con. Get out of political office if you don’t get this fact. And get out now.
During this crisis The Media is the thing which the so called western world was the least prepared for, generally speaking.
In few western lands, like Germany, the media has been doing a very good job regarding local affairs, though, and also the political parties in such few lands have been caring about the common good and not about their political interests.
is water wet?
Or did you forget Germany making PR a whole week that they are sending “help” – a plane with 50 medical seats to Italy (after Russia sent 9 military cargo planes with medical supplies), where the German plane returned back carrying 6 patients back to Germany?
Or Trump blaming China and WHO for their own later response to the virus? :) … it’s a propaganda war, and “the west” are losing to facts and reality.
yep
Fix problems first, blame others later. As a rule those who are already blaming during a crisis are not fixing their own problems.
Quote from “The Guardian”:
“Branson, 69, pledged as he desperately tried to convince the UK government to give his airline a £500m bailout to help it through the “devastating impact this pandemic continues to have-“
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/20/richard-branson-renews-virgin-plea-for-coronavirus-support
“The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the Guardian it was unacceptable that “rich billionaires [were] milking the system” at a time of national crisis.”
I abstain from joining the national political blame game but concentrate on Sir Richard’s attitude.
Q: Rich man, poor man? Why not take Richard Branson’s brazen attempt (not an SME anymore) to “politicize” his ridiculous idea as an example? He pledged his tax-free “Necker Island” to us taxpayers!
His Virgin Group is connected to 60 companies with a $20.7 billion turn over.
If he seriously needs a £500m bailout on “commercial terms” for his airline, why doesn’t he knock on private institution doors whose businesses are to lend money- instead of the taxpayers?
He can offer his luxurious tax-free island to the banks as surety. Let’s see how commercial Banks will fall head over heels to help this poor man?
I believe any taxpayer should be outraged by such absurd request from a knighted tax dodger- par excellence- for services to “entrepreneurship”- like Sir Richard.
Just one example by a knighted liberal who is losing perspective! And there are lots of them holding hands with politicians in the corridors of power- incl. Brussels.
Is to err in this instant human or poisonous brazenness?
Yes, it is politicised by those who cannot swallow their false pride and accept reality and facts as they are. And facts show that China is the first country in the world that won the war against the virus, despite small clusters popping up here and there which are quickly squashed. Yet almost no one is saying “Let’s learn from China”. South Korea was cleverer than the rest, though, and adopted the Chinese measures. Now they are free from the virus.
Other examples of politicising the pandemic is hushing the fact that Russia helped Italy or trying to cover up the gangster ways USA uses to stop and snatch personal protective equipment destined for other countries and divert it to itself.
So plenty of politicising, but it is so far proving useless in the fight against the invisible enemy.