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Originally Posted by Sephiroth
It was a well structured article that considered a wide range of important issues. One of my take-aways is this:
Even before coronavirus, this government’s agenda was large and ambitious — some would have said unfeasibly so. It is now even greater. It wants to respond to coronavirus by creating an entire new public health infrastructure, one that can ensure that the UK is never again caught out in the way it has been by this virus. Its aim would be to make sure that in any future pandemic, the UK can deploy a South Korean response from the off, leading to far fewer deaths. Creating this infrastructure will be expensive. But given that Covid is the third coronavirus crisis since the turn of the century (Sars and Mers being the other two) and given the catastrophic costs of the current nationwide lockdown, it’s sensible to insure against a fourth.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
There is an opportunity here for wholesale reform not seen since 1945. The possibilities are exciting but the stakes are high.
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One of the reasons South Korea was good at dealing with the virus will be because they've experienced it before. The Government had the infrastructure to help and importantly the public reacted with the seriousness it deserved. I imagine the same will be true here too. Nothing helps like first hand experience. Hopefully it's the kind of thing that can have some flex to it as well, be more generic, to avoid a 'fighting the last war scenario'.
Other than healthcare and pandemic response though I think the amount of people expecting a different society to emerge will be disappointed. I believe that the public desire for normality will be so strong and the Government so pre-occupied with economic recovery alongside Brexit and the aforementioned healthcare reforms that anything that can continue in the same vein will do so.
I am seeing a lot of talk of how society's relationship with work, each commerce and with each other will change and we'll all take the time to understand what's important and what isn't. Nah, most people will just want to go back to the pub.