While Sage initially thought closing schools was an important intervention, by the autumn of 2020 scientists had changed their mind, fearing that lack of education was far worse for youngsters than the virus.
Even by October 2020, there was a “strong sense that the evidence base on what measures do and don’t work was lacking,” Sunak said in a statement. “I am unsure as to whether the range of opinions within the scientific body was fully appreciated more widely,” the prime minister wrote.
He added: “I believe that Sage advice was valuable and important, but the significant status and prominence attached to it did have, in my view, an unfortunate consequence, which was that less consideration was given to other factors outside of their focus, despite the serious impacts that we would see in a number of areas of society, including non Covid-related health outcomes.”
Sunak admitted that by December 2021, with the Omicron variant threatening another deadly wave of infection, relations between the Government and Sage were fraught, with scientists advising another lockdown.
In the end, the data proved so uncertain that the Government held its nerve, the first time politicians had chosen not to ‘follow the science’. They were correct, and Omicron cases soon started to fall.
A better way forward
Sunak was dubbed ‘Dr Death’ for daring to suggest that keeping the economy going was the best way to help the public.
His restaurant boosting scheme was dismissed by Professor Chris Whitty as ‘Eat Out To Help Out The Virus.’
Yet it is becoming clear that while other ministers ignored the devastating consequences looming at the other end of lockdown, Sunak had his sights set clearly on the horizon.
He worried about the impact of courts being closed, leading to a backlog of nearly 32,000 cases and fretted over the impact of NHS backlogs for cancer, heart and mental health patients.
“Many of these impacts are not felt immediately,” Sunak told the inquiry this week. “They are felt over time. And that was a tough thing to deal with.”
It is still a tough thing to deal with and the county will be dealing with it for many more years to come. It is time for a new module to be added to the Covid Inquiry, one that focuses specifically on the evidence of what worked and what did not.
Until then, fingers will be pointed, but no lessons will be learnt.
