Why is England doing worse against Covid than its European neighbours? | Christina Pagel and Martin McKee

Instead of relying on vaccines alone, countries such as France and Germany are using extra measures to keep cases and deaths lowOnly two months after being forced at the last minute to “cancel Christmas” in 2020, Boris Johnson committed to a “cautious and prudent” roadmap out of lockdown that recognised the evolving epidemiology of the virus. But memories are short. On 19 July, all social distancing and face-covering requirements, as well as limits on the number of people at indoor or outdoor events, were lifted in England. As the summer progressed, inter national travel restrictions were eased and fully vaccinated people and children were no longerrequired to isolate if they had been in contact with someone who contracted Covid-19.Some people in England, and many more elsewhere, watched with astonishment. Israel, a world leader in vaccinations, was already seeing the beginning of a rapid increase in cases driven by the new Delta variant. England had a rising number of cases; 54% of the population was fully vaccinated by 19 July. CNN, capturing a widespread view, called England ’s approach an“experiment” (a leader in theIrish Times prefaced that word with “reckless”). Fortunately thelarge increase in cases that some feared would arrive after 19 July didn ’t materialise. According to theSage modelling subgroup, this was largely due to a slow return to pre-pandemic behaviour, school holidays and continued home-working.Christina Pagel is director of UCL ’s ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus Infectious diseases World news Science Vaccines and immunisation Health Society UK news Source Type: news