England’s coronavirus tracing plan ‘beset by conflict and confusion’
I was listening to Jonathan Sumption speaking to Nick Robinson on Saturday and I found his take on the coronavirus fascinating. See if you can plug into what he has to say somewhere, it will make you think very hard about the efficacy of initiatives such as the tracing approach planned by Government. He is not only a fascinating thinker but a historian with very useful perspective to boot. This article tells us:
It was meant to be the system that would allow the country to emerge confidently from lockdown. But the development of the NHS tracing system has been characterised by missteps, conflict and frustration behind the scenes.
At the heart of the difficulties have been tensions between central government and local public health officials, or as one insider complained: “There has been control freakery from start to finish by the NHS and the Department of Health.”
Public health officials say systems and protocols to manage so-called “complex cases” involving central and local cooperation, such as the outbreak in Weston-super-Mare, have not yet been fully worked out days before schools start reopening on 1 June.
“I think councils will be told who will need extra help because they are vulnerable in a shielded category, and that’s about it,” the official added, saying there had been difficult meetings between officials from both sides.