Countries from Germany to Vietnam got test and trace right, so why didn't England? | David McCoy
The government was shown how to contain coronavirus - but chose to prioritise centralised control and private interests
Most people agree that England's handling of the Covid-19 crisis has been slow and disorganised; a fact made worse by the government's willingness to squander public trust by massaging data and spinning the facts to save face. Yet its shambolic approach to testing and contact tracing isn't the result of mistakes, but a choice to ignore evidence and experience.
For months, public health specialists in England have asked the government to decentralise responsibility for testing and tracing to local authority public health teams, which can develop nimble and responsive plans that are specific to different contexts, and organise systems with clear lines of accountability. They have also asked the government to recognise the obvious fact that case detection and contact tracing are social and behavioural interventions, which rely on skilled personnel and trust.
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