New Covid Inquiry brands government action “too little, too late” — causing 23,000 deaths

On Thursday 20th November, the Covid Inquiry published its Module 2 report. Module 2, the second of ten sections, dealt with ‘core decision-making and political governance’. Among its many damning conclusions, it found that delaying the lockdown likely caused 23,000 needless deaths.

Covid inquiry: ‘Too little, too late’

Over the course of Module 2, the inquiry heard evidence from 166 witnesses. These included politicians like Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, as well as medical professionals, scientists, and civil servants.

Baroness Hallett, the inquiry’s chair, stated that:

In early 2020, Covid-19 was a novel and deadly virus spreading rapidly around the country. All four governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat or the urgency of response it demanded.

When they did realise the scale of the threat, politicians and administrators in the UK government and the devolved administrations were presented with unenviable choices as to how to respond. Whatever decision they took there was often no right answer or good outcome. They also had to make decisions in conditions of extreme pressure. Nonetheless, I can summarise my findings of the response as ‘too little, too late’.

The report concludes in no uncertain terms that the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 saved lives. As such, it also rejects the assertion that the government was wrong to lock the country down. In fact, each branch of the government received clear and compelling evidence that it was completely necessary.

However, it also states that the lockdowns only became so desperately necessary because of government inactions. In fact, the government’s failures were made worse because of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) demonstrably untrue assertions that the country was prepared for a pandemic.

Likewise, Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament — Senedd Cymru — and the Northern Ireland Assembly were overly reliant on Westminster to dictate the response.

23,000 lives needlessly lost

At the point that UK governments actually started considering a lockdown, the report states that it was already too late. If the first lockdown was instated just one week earlier, modelling suggests that 23,000 lives could have been saved during the first wave of Covid.

However, had the advisory restrictions — things like household quarantine and self-isolation — been implemented sooner than March 16, the lockdowns could have been shorter or unnecessary altogether.

Appearing on BBC’s ‘Today’ programme in response to the damning report, Michael Gove stated that:

Can I just take an opportunity to apologise to all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic and many others who made huge sacrifices who will feel I’m sure a sense of, not just grief, but understandable anger as they read some of the conclusions in this report. I want to, on behalf of the government and also the Conservative Party, to apologise for mistakes that were made during that period.

However, just in case you might believe that a Tory was capable of genuine contrition, Gove quickly demonstrated that he’s learned absolutely nothing from the inquiry. Regarding the modelling showing the number of deaths his decisions helped to cause, he stated:

I think in particular that if we had locked down earlier, I think that would have been wiser and I did say so at the time.

But I think it is one thing to say it would have been more prudent to have locked down a week earlier, but it’s quite another to make a leap to claim that 23,000 lives would have been saved as a result, let alone that future lockdowns would not have been necessary.

Covid inquiry: ‘Political reputation ahead of public safety’

Following on from the delay in locking down the country, the report also highlighted the fact that no UK government had a plan on how to exit the lockdown either. This included a lack of attention or planning for the possibility of a second wave of infections.

Likewise, the governments failed to give adequate consideration to the consequences of a national lockdown. Our politicians were unprepared for the knock-on effects and wide societal impacts of shutting down the country. These impacts were particularly egregious for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. More specifically, the report called out the lack of thought given to the extreme impact of school closures on the learning, health and development of the country’s youth.