Janice R. Andrews
First Minister Mark Drakeford said during the Covid inquiry that the plan to put local lockdowns into place in the fall of 2020 was a “failed experiment.” This was a shocking admission. This acknowledgement coincides with authorities struggling to evaluate their own conduct from the time of the pandemic’s peak.
Drakeford’s claim highlights the difficulties that the authorities encountered while attempting to curb the number of cases that were increasing by imposing limits in some local areas and places like Bangor and Llanelli. Rob Orford, a senior advisor to Wales, claimed that these limited lockdowns did nothing but make things more complicated.
top scientific advisor Sir Frank Atherton and top medical officer Sir Frank Atherton, two important players in Wales’ pandemic response, gave scathing testimony during the investigation. The lack of clear information about the varied restrictions across the UK was condemned by Sir Frank Atherton, who called it a “omnishambles.”
The investigation also clarified why important policies like making masks mandatory in stores have taken so long to take effect. Sir Frank Atherton accepted that Wales ought to have matched its laws to the face-covering rules that England had previously imposed.
Concerns were also expressed concerning the process used to decide whether to send hospital patients with Covid symptoms into assisted living facilities without first seeking testing. Sir Frank Atherton noted the seriousness of the choice but also underlined the need to keep hospitals from overburdening themselves.
Dame Shan Morgan, the former permanent secretary of the Welsh government, has come under fire for allegedly erasing early Covid-related WhatsApp exchanges, casting doubt on the crisis’s transparency and documentation.
As the investigation progresses, criticism of the government’s response to the pandemic grows, with demands for responsibility and lessons to be taken in order to properly prepare for emergencies in the future. The testimony of important officials highlights the difficult obstacles that authorities had to overcome in order to handle the extraordinary health emergency.
To give a thorough picture of Wales’ reaction to the Covid-19 outbreak, more testimony from senior civil servants and health officials is anticipated as the investigation moves forward.
