Every now and then this blog throws up surprises. I got up this morning and read this 'Please Google Event 201'. So I did:-
About the Event 201 exercise
Event 201 was a 3.5-hour pandemic tabletop exercise that simulated a series of dramatic, scenario-based facilitated discussions, confronting difficult, true-to-life dilemmas associated with response to a hypothetical, but scientifically plausible, pandemic. 15 global business, government, and public health leaders were players in the simulation exercise that highlighted unresolved real-world policy and economic issues that could be solved with sufficient political will, financial investment, and attention now and in the future.
The exercise consisted of pre-recorded news broadcasts, live “staff” briefings, and moderated discussions on specific topics. These issues were carefully designed in a compelling narrative that educated the participants and the audience.
Purpose
In recent years, the world has seen a growing number of epidemic events, amounting to approximately 200 events annually. These events are increasing, and they are disruptive to health, economies, and society. Managing these events already strains global capacity, even absent a pandemic threat. Experts agree that it is only a matter of time before one of these epidemics becomes global—a pandemic with potentially catastrophic consequences. A severe pandemic, which becomes “Event 201,” would require reliable cooperation among several industries, national governments, and key international institutions.
Recent economic studies show that pandemics will be the cause of an average annual economic loss of 0.7% of global GDP—or $570 billion. The players’ responses to the scenario illuminated the need for cooperation among industry, national governments, key international institutions, and civil society, to avoid the catastrophic consequences that could arise from a large-scale pandemic.
Similar to the Center’s 3 previous exercises—Clade X, Dark Winter, and Atlantic Storm—Event 201 aimed to educate senior leaders at the highest level of US and international governments and leaders in global industries.
It is also a tool to inform members of the policy and preparedness communities and the general public. This is distinct from many other forms of simulation exercises that test protocols or technical policies of a specific organization. Exercises similar to Event 201 are a particularly effective way to help policymakers gain a fuller understanding of the urgent challenges they could face in a dynamic, real-world crisis.
Recommendations
The next severe pandemic will not only cause great illness and loss of life but could also trigger major cascading economic and societal consequences that could contribute greatly to global impact and suffering. The Event 201 pandemic exercise, conducted on October 18, 2019, vividly demonstrated a number of these important gaps in pandemic preparedness as well as some of the elements of the solutions between the public and private sectors that will be needed to fill them. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.
1. Governments, international organizations, and businesses should plan now for how essential corporate capabilities will be utilized during a large-scale pandemic. During a severe pandemic, public sector efforts to control the outbreak are likely to become overwhelmed. But industry assets, if swiftly and appropriately deployed, could help to save lives and reduce economic losses. For instance, companies with operations focused on logistics, social media, or distribution systems will be needed to enable governments’ emergency response, risk communications, and medical countermeasure distribution efforts during a pandemic. This includes working together to ensure that strategic commodities are available and accessible for public health response. Contingency planning for a potential operational partnership between government and business will be complex, with many legal and organizational details to be addressed. Governments should work now to identify the most critical areas of need and reach out to industry players with the goal of finalizing agreements in advance of the next large pandemic. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board would be well positioned to help monitor and contribute to the efforts that governments, international organizations and businesses should take for pandemic preparedness and response.
2. Industry, national governments, and international organizations should work together to enhance internationally held stockpiles of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to enable rapid and equitable distribution during a severe pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently has an influenza vaccine virtual stockpile, with contracts in place with pharmaceutical companies that have agreed to supply vaccines should WHO request them. As one possible approach, this virtual stockpile model could be expanded to augment WHO’s ability to distribute vaccines and therapeutics to countries in the greatest need during a severe pandemic. This should also include any available experimental vaccine stockpiles for any WHO R&D Blueprint pathogens to deploy in a clinical trial during outbreaks in collaboration with CEPI, GAVI, and WHO. Other approaches could involve regional stockpiles or bi- or multinational agreements. During a catastrophic outbreak, countries may be reluctant to part with scarce medical resources. A robust international stockpile could therefore help to ensure that low and middle resource settings receive needed supplies regardless of whether they produce such supplies domestically. Countries with national supplies or domestic manufacturing capabilities should commit to donating some supply/product to this virtual stockpile. Countries should support this effort through the provision of additional funding.
3. Countries, international organizations, and global transportation companies should work together to maintain travel and trade during severe pandemics. Travel and trade are essential to the global economy as well as to national and even local economies, and they should be maintained even in the face of a pandemic. Improved decision-making, coordination, and communications between the public and private sectors, relating to risk, travel advisories, import/export restrictions, and border measures will be needed. The fear and uncertainty experienced during past outbreaks, even those limited to a national or regional level, have sometimes led to unjustified border measures, the closure of customer-facing businesses, import bans, and the cancellation of airline flights and international shipping. A particularly fast-moving and lethal pandemic could therefore result in political decisions to slow or stop movement of people and goods, potentially harming economies already vulnerable in the face of an outbreak. Ministries of Health and other government agencies should work together now with international airlines and global shipping companies to develop realistic response scenarios and start a contingency planning process with the goal of mitigating economic damage by maintaining key travel and trade routes during a large-scale pandemic. Supporting continued trade and travel in such an extreme circumstance may require the provision of enhanced disease control measures and personal protective equipment for transportation workers, government subsidies to support critical trade routes, and potentially liability protection in certain cases. International organizations including WHO, the International Air Transport Association, and the International Civil Aviation Organization should be partners in these preparedness and response efforts.
4. Governments should provide more resources and support for the development and surge manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics that will be needed during a severe pandemic. In the event of a severe pandemic, countries may need population-level supplies of safe and effective medical countermeasures, including vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Therefore, the ability to rapidly develop, manufacture, distribute, and dispense large quantities of MCMs will be needed to contain and control a global outbreak. Countries with enough resources should greatly increase this capability. In coordination with WHO, CEPI, GAVI, and other relevant multilateral and domestic mechanisms, investments should be made in new technologies and industrial approaches, that will allow concomitant distributed manufacturing. This will require addressing legal and regulatory barriers among other issues.
5. Global business should recognize the economic burden of pandemics and fight for stronger preparedness. In addition to investing more in preparing their own companies and industries, business leaders and their shareholders should actively engage with governments and advocate for increased resources for pandemic preparedness. Globally, there has been a lack of attention and investment in preparing for high-impact pandemics, and business is largely not involved in existing efforts. To a significant extent this is due to a lack of awareness of the business risks posed by a pandemic. Tools should be built that help large private sector companies visualize business risks posed by infectious disease and pathways to mitigate risk through public-private cooperation to strengthen preparedness. A severe pandemic would greatly interfere with workforce health, business operations, and the movement of goods and services. A catastrophic-level outbreak can also have profound and long-lasting effects on entire industries, the economy, and societies in which business operates. While governments and public health authorities serve as the first line of defense against fast-moving outbreaks, their efforts are chronically under-funded and lack sustained support. Global business leaders should play a far more dynamic role as advocates with a stake in stronger pandemic preparedness.
6. International organizations should prioritize reducing economic impacts of epidemics and pandemics. Much of the economic harm resulting from a pandemic is likely to be due to counterproductive behavior of individuals, companies, and countries. For example, actions that lead to disruption of travel and trade or that change consumer behavior can greatly damage economies. In addition to other response activities, an increase in and reassessment of pandemic financial support will certainly be needed in a severe pandemic as many sectors of society may need financial support during or after a severe pandemic, including healthcare institutions, essential businesses, and national governments Furthermore, the ways in which these existing funds can now be used are limited. The International Health Regulations prioritize both minimizing public health risks and avoiding unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade. But there will also be a need to identify critical nodes of the banking system and global and national economies that are too essential to fail – there are some that are likely to need emergency international financial support as well. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, regional development banks, national governments, foundations, and others should explore ways to increase the amount and availability of funds in a pandemic and ensure that they can be flexibly used where needed.
7. Governments and the private sector should assign a greater priority to developing methods to combat mis- and disinformation prior to the next pandemic response. Governments will need to partner with traditional and social media companies to research and develop nimble approaches to countering misinformation. This will require developing the ability to flood media with fast, accurate, and consistent information. Public health authorities should work with private employers and trusted community leaders such as faith leaders, to promulgate factual information to employees and citizens. Trusted, influential private-sector employers should create the capacity to readily and reliably augment public messaging, manage rumors and misinformation, and amplify credible information to support emergency public communications. National public health agencies should work in close collaboration with WHO to create the capability to rapidly develop and release consistent health messages. For their part, media companies should commit to ensuring that authoritative messages are prioritized and that false messages are suppressed including though the use of technology.
Accomplishing the above goals will require collaboration among governments, international organizations and global business. If these recommendations are robustly pursued, major progress can be made to diminish the potential impact and consequences of pandemics. We call on leaders in global business, international organizations, and national governments to launch an ambitious effort to work together to build a world better prepared for a severe pandemic.
2. Industry, national governments, and international organizations should work together to enhance internationally held stockpiles of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to enable rapid and equitable distribution during a severe pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently has an influenza vaccine virtual stockpile, with contracts in place with pharmaceutical companies that have agreed to supply vaccines should WHO request them. As one possible approach, this virtual stockpile model could be expanded to augment WHO’s ability to distribute vaccines and therapeutics to countries in the greatest need during a severe pandemic. This should also include any available experimental vaccine stockpiles for any WHO R&D Blueprint pathogens to deploy in a clinical trial during outbreaks in collaboration with CEPI, GAVI, and WHO. Other approaches could involve regional stockpiles or bi- or multinational agreements. During a catastrophic outbreak, countries may be reluctant to part with scarce medical resources. A robust international stockpile could therefore help to ensure that low and middle resource settings receive needed supplies regardless of whether they produce such supplies domestically. Countries with national supplies or domestic manufacturing capabilities should commit to donating some supply/product to this virtual stockpile. Countries should support this effort through the provision of additional funding.
3. Countries, international organizations, and global transportation companies should work together to maintain travel and trade during severe pandemics. Travel and trade are essential to the global economy as well as to national and even local economies, and they should be maintained even in the face of a pandemic. Improved decision-making, coordination, and communications between the public and private sectors, relating to risk, travel advisories, import/export restrictions, and border measures will be needed. The fear and uncertainty experienced during past outbreaks, even those limited to a national or regional level, have sometimes led to unjustified border measures, the closure of customer-facing businesses, import bans, and the cancellation of airline flights and international shipping. A particularly fast-moving and lethal pandemic could therefore result in political decisions to slow or stop movement of people and goods, potentially harming economies already vulnerable in the face of an outbreak. Ministries of Health and other government agencies should work together now with international airlines and global shipping companies to develop realistic response scenarios and start a contingency planning process with the goal of mitigating economic damage by maintaining key travel and trade routes during a large-scale pandemic. Supporting continued trade and travel in such an extreme circumstance may require the provision of enhanced disease control measures and personal protective equipment for transportation workers, government subsidies to support critical trade routes, and potentially liability protection in certain cases. International organizations including WHO, the International Air Transport Association, and the International Civil Aviation Organization should be partners in these preparedness and response efforts.
4. Governments should provide more resources and support for the development and surge manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics that will be needed during a severe pandemic. In the event of a severe pandemic, countries may need population-level supplies of safe and effective medical countermeasures, including vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Therefore, the ability to rapidly develop, manufacture, distribute, and dispense large quantities of MCMs will be needed to contain and control a global outbreak. Countries with enough resources should greatly increase this capability. In coordination with WHO, CEPI, GAVI, and other relevant multilateral and domestic mechanisms, investments should be made in new technologies and industrial approaches, that will allow concomitant distributed manufacturing. This will require addressing legal and regulatory barriers among other issues.
5. Global business should recognize the economic burden of pandemics and fight for stronger preparedness. In addition to investing more in preparing their own companies and industries, business leaders and their shareholders should actively engage with governments and advocate for increased resources for pandemic preparedness. Globally, there has been a lack of attention and investment in preparing for high-impact pandemics, and business is largely not involved in existing efforts. To a significant extent this is due to a lack of awareness of the business risks posed by a pandemic. Tools should be built that help large private sector companies visualize business risks posed by infectious disease and pathways to mitigate risk through public-private cooperation to strengthen preparedness. A severe pandemic would greatly interfere with workforce health, business operations, and the movement of goods and services. A catastrophic-level outbreak can also have profound and long-lasting effects on entire industries, the economy, and societies in which business operates. While governments and public health authorities serve as the first line of defense against fast-moving outbreaks, their efforts are chronically under-funded and lack sustained support. Global business leaders should play a far more dynamic role as advocates with a stake in stronger pandemic preparedness.
6. International organizations should prioritize reducing economic impacts of epidemics and pandemics. Much of the economic harm resulting from a pandemic is likely to be due to counterproductive behavior of individuals, companies, and countries. For example, actions that lead to disruption of travel and trade or that change consumer behavior can greatly damage economies. In addition to other response activities, an increase in and reassessment of pandemic financial support will certainly be needed in a severe pandemic as many sectors of society may need financial support during or after a severe pandemic, including healthcare institutions, essential businesses, and national governments Furthermore, the ways in which these existing funds can now be used are limited. The International Health Regulations prioritize both minimizing public health risks and avoiding unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade. But there will also be a need to identify critical nodes of the banking system and global and national economies that are too essential to fail – there are some that are likely to need emergency international financial support as well. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, regional development banks, national governments, foundations, and others should explore ways to increase the amount and availability of funds in a pandemic and ensure that they can be flexibly used where needed.
7. Governments and the private sector should assign a greater priority to developing methods to combat mis- and disinformation prior to the next pandemic response. Governments will need to partner with traditional and social media companies to research and develop nimble approaches to countering misinformation. This will require developing the ability to flood media with fast, accurate, and consistent information. Public health authorities should work with private employers and trusted community leaders such as faith leaders, to promulgate factual information to employees and citizens. Trusted, influential private-sector employers should create the capacity to readily and reliably augment public messaging, manage rumors and misinformation, and amplify credible information to support emergency public communications. National public health agencies should work in close collaboration with WHO to create the capability to rapidly develop and release consistent health messages. For their part, media companies should commit to ensuring that authoritative messages are prioritized and that false messages are suppressed including though the use of technology.
Accomplishing the above goals will require collaboration among governments, international organizations and global business. If these recommendations are robustly pursued, major progress can be made to diminish the potential impact and consequences of pandemics. We call on leaders in global business, international organizations, and national governments to launch an ambitious effort to work together to build a world better prepared for a severe pandemic.
What is the GPMB?
ReplyDeleteThe Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) is an independent monitoring and accountability body to ensure preparedness for global health crises. Comprised of political leaders, agency principals and world-class experts, the Board provides an independent and comprehensive appraisal for policy makers and the world about progress towards increased preparedness and response capacity for disease outbreaks and other emergencies with health consequences. In short, the work of the GPMB will be to chart a roadmap for a safer world.
Created in response to recommendations by the UN Secretary General’s Global Health Crises Task Force in 2017, the GPMB was co-convened by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group and formally launched in May 2018. The GPMB is led by its co-chairs, Elhadj As Sy, the Secretary General of the IFRC, and Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former WHO Director-General.
Why was the GPMB created?
There are severe health and economic costs of failing to adequately prepare for and manage disease outbreaks and other health emergencies for countries and communities globally. Recent health emergencies, including the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, shed light on the major gaps in sustained political will, action, and sustainable financing for preparedness; national public health systems’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to health crises from the local to global levels; community trust deficits in local health systems; along with a need to accelerate research and development, and to enhance global and regional coordination and capabilities. Since then, multiple international expert panels have recommended specific reforms in these areas and many institutions have strengthened their accountability mechanisms. But gaps, weaknesses and inefficiencies remain.
FactCheck:
ReplyDeleteA conspiracy theory website distorted the facts about an emergency preparedness exercise to suggest that the “GATES FOUNDATION & OTHERS PREDICTED UP TO 65 MILLION DEATHS” from the coronavirus now spreading. The event dealt with a hypothetical scenario involving a fictional virus.
“To be clear, the Center for Health Security and partners did not make a prediction during our tabletop exercise. For the scenario, we modeled a fictional coronavirus pandemic, but we explicitly stated that it was not a prediction,” the center said in a statement. “Instead, the exercise served to highlight preparedness and response challenges that would likely arise in a very severe pandemic. We are not now predicting that the nCoV-2019 outbreak will kill 65 million people. Although our tabletop exercise included a mock novel coronavirus, the inputs we used for modeling the potential impact of that fictional virus are not similar to nCoV-2019.”
In other words, the event centered on a made-up coronavirus — and not one with the same features of the virus currently spreading. The fictionalized scenario involved a disease starting in pig farms in Brazil and spreading around the world, leading to 65 million deaths. Again, that was all made up for the simulation. Videos of, and information on, the event are easily accessible online...
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/01/new-coronavirus-wasnt-predicted-in-simulation/
https://www.newswise.com/articles/pandemic-exercise-featuring-global-business-government-leaders-to-highlight-preparedness
Delete"The pandemic exercise will also be livestreamed to the public 8:50 a.m.- 12:30 p.m., with a break at about 10:15 a.m."
Judy Stone - Senior Contributor Healthcare:
Delete"I am an Infectious Disease specialist and author of Resilience: One Family's Story of Hope and Triumph over Evil and of Conducting Clinical Research, the essential guide to the topic."
What will happen when an unexpectedly virulent flu, or SARS, or Disease X—any other rapidly spreading viral infections—spreads globally causing a pandemic? How prepared are we? What do we need to do to be ready?
While I couldn’t attend the exercise, Event 201 is available to watch and was a worthwhile, if not uplifting, experience. Emily Ricotta, PhD (@Iplaywithgerms) also live-tweeted it and her thread can be seen here.
The first discussion centered around the distribution of supplies. Without knowing more about the epidemiology and transmission of the new CAPS virus, one can’t plan intelligently. For example, are face masks, or hand sanitizer, or water purification the priority?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2019/12/12/how-prepared-are-we-for-the-next-pandemic-not-very-experts-show/#679aa4d35245
I’ve said all along, the government wants to kill us off, well most of us. The labour of the masses is no longer required, therefore the proletariat needs to be culled so we cannot rise up and overthrow the ‘Base and the Owners of the Means of Production’.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, do you think they’ll write off our mortgages too? Mine is just a fraction of the NHS debt.
KMJ yes quite. I don't doubt the scenario testing has a relevance and perhaps the Marxist have a real point. The fact is that the Tories are only interested in reputation. They all want to be PM in that cabinet as half of them and rank outsiders like NOT -So Cleverly had a punt . Moron.
ReplyDeleteThe Tories lie scam and cheat the people yet massive deaths will occur and in part more heavily because they financially chose to take money away from HEALTH UK. Instead telling Hospitals they owe a debt now written off as a cynical ploy. The poor fool HANCOCK C-19 recovery victim. Yes VICTIM like so many others but Hancock renewed energy is to promise 100 thousand people testing a day by the end of the Month. No one can see the Tories achieving this so where does it come from. It is most likely another Tory lie. You could see the self indulged Johnson shouting at fellow C19 victim Hancock the realistic testing was not "Big enough bold enough for public morale" BJ " we must er er er er mm mm mm be big aim high tell them our testing is better bigger second to none of the great people of er er er mm mm er er briatin that we we are the leaders of the fight back against the Covid virus and that we we w e are to be victor-ious in the er er long long battle." Telling Hancock the 100k figure is to be bolder and impressive and that if you say anything it has be our intention to the impossible then blame others for the dfailures of not implementing the great Tory plan for testing. Now what would winnie do? While reminding us that a lie has to be so big it distracts us from the tory real truth. they are more interested in their real agenda the economy than saving the people.
As a follower of the father of KMJ and an occasional commentator on this blog, I too noted the comment from the Health Secretary about wiping out the debt of the NHS.
ReplyDeleteIf we go back to the contributor earlier in the week who described how the Tories hate the NHS, and refer to the bible that is ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists,’ we see that the corporation agreed to municipalise the gasworks to get the ratepayers to refurbish the plant, then they intended to privatise it because the cost of the works would cause an increase in the rates which the ratepayers would object to.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.a debt free NHS is a much more favourable investment than one saddled with liabilities.
Branson et al will be licking their chops and circling like wolves.
Don’t trust the bastards. We are not all in this together.
The data from the ONS statistics make for interesting reading (opens in excel spreadsheet)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwales
I think any amount of strategic or logistical planning on how to maintain the status quo in the event of a crisis like a global pandemic can't account for what social responses and change that may come post pandemic.
ReplyDeleteI'm minded how for the last few years we've been divided over Brexit. The divisions have been tribal and very unpleasant. Brexit seems a long time ago now, but so too seems the divisions it brought.
What this pandemic has achieved is to create a sense of social collectiveness that can't have been experienced since the second world war.
We share the same fears for the lives of our loved ones and our own mortality. We worry about our financial stability. We worry about having enough food (and even toilet paper).
For the first time, certainly in my lifetime, everybody is concerned about the same things in a collective and general sense.
Tomorrow sees the announcement of the new Labour leader. Its not even been mentioned on the news. Two months ago such an event would be the only headline for weeks. But political colour, leave or remain has been exchanged for a far more collective conscientiousness.
That surely has to be a good thing, regardless of how the world looks post pandemic?
For those of a Marxist persuasion above they might enjoy reading this little snippet on Tim Martin of Wetherspoons fame. His response to the pandemic has been one of solely self interest, but it hasn't gone unnoticed.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.glasgowlive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/glasgow-brewery-vows-stop-supplying-18019986.amp
'Getafix
TR coming to an end; cv19 all over the news, no sport, no loo roll to take a proper s**t,another weekend at home. Driving me chicken now
ReplyDeleteTry working in our office. No loo roll for a month so no crapping possible at work!
DeleteEI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing 'Hallelujah.' And EVEN THEN we couldn't take a shite until we'd walked back from the forest with a tree, pulped it with us bare feet & made us own loo roll
DeleteMP: But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.
http://www.montypython.net/scripts/4york.php
NAPO COVID 19 BULLETIN 8 – 03-04-2020
ReplyDeletePPE
Following on from our representations this week HMPPS has taken pro-active steps on the issue of PPE for all workplaces that are client facing. This includes not only APs but also field offices, prisons, and anywhere else where members are working. Previous guidance was mainly aimed at APs but this has now been updated. It is now being reviewed by Public Health England (PHE) to ensure it is in line with their best practice. Members should note that PPE is not to be used in place of measures such as social distancing but in busy workplaces which, due to their nature, have multiple locked doors and gates and where there are additional challenges not present in many workplaces that PPE might help with. We cannot say how quickly the guidance will be available as PHE have a huge task on their hands right now but we expect it early next week.
Working at home
Divisions are being asked to check on staff working at home to see if their capacity is limited in any way, for example those caring for someone else in the home might not be able to take on a full workload during this time and this needs to be factored in. This seems to be a genuine recognition that some working at home may not be able to take on 100% of the work they ordinarily do, and we encourage members to be honest if asked by their manager about any limitations they face during such an extraordinary time.
We have, on behalf of members, sought clarification from employers about compensation for those incurring additional costs relating to working at home. We will share any information about this as soon as we have it.
EDM compliance
Exceptional delivery plans (EDPs) should be in place for every area of work and these should follow the Exceptional Delivery Model (EDM) that has been issued by HMPPS. We have been made aware by members of a number of issues in implementing these, especially in prisons. Where local reps have tried to resolve the issues by reference to Divisional Directors but have not received positive responses, these issues can be escalated to senior HMPPS leaders. Following our representations about some issues in prisons, all “Silver Commands” (usually Divisional Directors) must confirm compliance in the prisons within their divisions (or an action plan to comply) today. There will also be regular calls with the “Silver Commands” to monitor and review the compliance in other areas of work.
A time to reflect
At the end of week two since the Social Distancing policy was announced by Government, Napo members can be proud of the vital contribution they have made to maintaining vital public services across all of the 23 employers where we are represented.
The nature of the C19 Pandemic means that the death in service of employees in any of these areas will understandably cause consternation amongst their immediate colleagues, along with the profound sense of loss that will be shared by all our members. The announcement of three such deaths in just over 7 days, albeit not all of them known to be definitely related to C19, brings the scale of the threat that we are all facing into very sharp focus.
Our families and our communities must (and will) pull together in the campaign to defeat this brutal foe. The foregoing shows that Napo is committed to doing all that we can to help ensure that our members are afforded the necessary protections, equipment and support from your employers that you rightly demand. As we go to press, this joint statement from the HSE, CBI and TUC amplifies this imperative.
In times of crisis, practical and effective solutions are of course absolutely vital. But so is good leadership; and we will not allow any employer to allow complacency or inertia to become additional unwelcome enemies.
"At the end of week two since the Social Distancing policy was announced by Government..."
Delete... and still there is no decision made, no direct action taken, but plenty of chinwagging - no doubt from the safety of Working From Home.
The 'experts' tell us there is about a 3-week lag between sufficient exposure to the coronavirus & becoming ill; potentially ill enough to die.
The napo bulletin suggests three probation staff have possibly been lost to covid-19 in the last week.
Yet probation staff across the board still remain exposed to potential infection through lack of PPE or similar protections (let's not forget the lack of deep cleaning of premises).
IF the "issue of PPE for all workplaces that are client facing" is agreed by PHE, then the arrangement won't be implemented until next week and its reasonable to expect the PPE won't be arriving until the week after.
So let's assume suitable PPE arrives in entirety across the 23 employers' locations on Mon 13 April.
We can therefore expect ongoing likely/possible covid-19 casualties within the ranks of probation staff until May 2020.
That's the best part of another five (5) weeks away, and we're only two (2) weeks into the social distancing regime.
"Napo members can be proud of the vital contribution they have made to maintaining vital public services across all of the 23 employers"
Yes they can.
But that doesn't excuse the disgraceful lack of action, will or commitment of those 23 employers to protect their employees from viral infection; it doesn't exempt them from being held responsible for bullying & coercing staff to take life-threatening risks.
Has the union representing probation staff done enough to protect its members?
Of course not it's nafo only looking after 1.
Deletehttps://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/03/boris-johnson-judged-coronavirus-confusion
ReplyDeleteBoris Johnson and his government are on probation, watched by a public whose mood could turn rapidly and brutally. For now, and on paper, Johnson has the people with him: his poll ratings have surged north of 50%, a feat last managed by a Tory government at the height of the Falklands war nearly 40 years ago. But the wisest heads in Downing Street will not be turned by those numbers. They know that there’s always a “rally around the flag” effect at moments of extreme crisis: when citizens are frightened, they want to believe their leaders have got things under control. That’s why incumbents around the world, even useless and immoral ones such as Donald Trump, have enjoyed an initial corona bounce in their ratings, almost regardless of their actions. At the start of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 Jimmy Carter saw his approval numbers leap from 32% to 61% – only for him to crash to defeat a year later. Johnson will know that one day, and perhaps quite soon, he, too, will be judged.
DeleteSpoke with our community drugs team today - five deaths this week. They're NHS. They work from home with a one-day-a-week requirement to cover one of several locations (some require considerable travel), although "working from home" includes hours spent each day collection prescriptions then trawling around local communities supervising a caseload taking medications on 'doorsteps' in a variety of circumstances: multi-occupancy buildings, rabbit-warren flat complexes, sofa-surfers, NFA. Sometimes they have to queue for up to an hour in the street to gain access to a chemists.
ReplyDeletePPE? No chance.
Sickness rate? Astronomical.
Staffing? Down to three out of a full complement team of nine because those with nursing qualifications who aren't sick or self-isolating are being seconded to the hospital.
I recall another post on this blog a couple of days ago referring to emotional manipulation & scapegoating of the 'slackers' who can't intubate - as compared to the Heroes who can.
It all seems to be on the verge of falling apart - there's a warm weekend in prospect & people have had enough; the roads are getting busier; more & more people are resuming employment. Maybe because they can't get access to promised financial support. Maybe because they can't see the point.
Maybe because two weeks is the limit of English Patience.
And here we are - Fuckwittery Number 2,003
DeleteNottinghamshire landlady's 'regret' over 'lock-in'
A landlady whose pub was shut down after police were called to a "lock-in" during the coronavirus lockdown said she "wished she'd kept the door shut".
Mandy Mallinson said she had been celebrating her husband's birthday at the Blue Bell Inn in Nottinghamshire.
She admitted six regulars had turned up uninvited, but insists it was not a planned "lock-in".
A councillor said the pub had been visited on successive weekends over concerns it was "flouting" rules.
Nottinghamshire Police were called to the premises in Mansfield Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield, last weekend and used new powers to shut down what they described as a "lock-in".
Ms Mallinson said: "If I could go back, I would have locked my door and not let anyone in. I wish to God I had just shut it."
But she argues the police were wrong to described it as a "lock-in" because the till was closed, beer nozzles were turned off and the doors were open.
"People chose to come, drop off presents and thought they'd have a quick drink," she said.
"We weren't selling beer, they brought their own. We didn't invite them, it was not a planned party."
Sounds like she's been taking a lead from the lies of Stephen Kinnock, Matt Hancock, Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, et al... And no doubt she'll be pocketing public funds from the public purse to save her business? New headline required:
*Notts landlady's 'regret' over getting caught out*
Across the four nations, the numbers break down as follows:
ReplyDeleteNorthern Ireland: 395 people tested per 100,000 of population (total 7,525 people tested)
Scotland: 351 people tested per 100,000 (total 19,535 people tested)
Wales: 330 people tested per 100,000 (total 10,543 people tested)
England : 238 people tested per 100,000 (total 136,181 people tested)
136,181 tested in England TO DATE!
~175,000 across the four nations TO DATE!!
How the fuck in a bottle of rum are they going to achieve 100,000 A DAY!?!?
Bigliest Fuckwittery Ever
ReplyDeleteThe guidelines [to wear a face mask] issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the government's public health advisory agency, came as the US reported at least 270,473 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with nearly 7,000 deaths.
Mr Trump announced the CDC's guidance "people should wear cloth masks when they go outside" at the White House daily coronavirus briefing, but repeatedly emphasised that the advisory was "voluntary".
"You don't have to do it," he said. "I'm choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it and that's OK. It may be good. Probably will."
He smiled. "I was just tested," he said. "I assume I don't have the virus so I don't have to worry about spreading it."
Or put another way:
"People chose to come, drop off presents and thought they'd have a quick drink. We weren't selling beer, they brought their own. We didn't invite them, it was not a planned party."
Bigliest Fuckwittery just got biglier:
Delete"The US has been accused of redirecting 200,000 Germany-bound masks for its own use, in a move condemned as "modern piracy".
The local government in Berlin said the shipment of US-made masks was "confiscated" in Bangkok.
The FFP2 masks, which were ordered by Berlin's police force, did not reach their destination, it said.
"We need these items immediately for domestic use. We have to have them," Mr Trump said at the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House.
He said US authorities had taken custody of nearly 200,000 N95 respirators, 130,000 surgical masks and 600,000 gloves. He did not say where they were taken into US hands.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-52161995
(NB: all today's news post were from BBC website)