It is right to mandate protection for care home staff. But keeping people safe also requires engaging and supporting them
Dominic Cummings launched a lurid attack this week on the “chronic dysfunction” and incompetence in the government’s pandemic handling, singling out the health secretary, Matt Hancock, for most criticism. While few would want to rely solely on an account from Boris Johnson’s controversial former aide, some of it quickly contested, there is plentiful evidence of the government’s failures.
There is no doubt its performance has improved. With Covid cases in the UK now doubling every 11 days, the vaccination push is intensifying; all over-18s can book for theirs from Friday. The speed of the rollout has helped to break the link between infections and deaths. The delay of a further relaxation of restrictions was a welcome and necessary decision. But the Delta variant’s rapid spread has meant that hospitalisations are up 15% week on week, and deaths 10%.
