Quite decent article here
If there was a moment when the UK turned its back on the traditional public health approach to fighting an epidemic, this was it. Ebola, Sars, Mers – in previous epidemics, nobody had questioned the need to hunt down and eliminate the virus by testing everyone with symptoms, tracking their contacts and isolating and testing those people in turn. But not this time.
According to Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet medical journal, the dominant voices in the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), the scientific expert group advising the government, were mathematical modellers and behavioural scientists, including Halpern.
On 25 March, Horton told MPs on the science and technology select committee that Sage appeared to have little input from public health experts and doctors, despite being chaired by the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and the chief scientific officer, Sir Patrick Vallance.
The clue for Horton was in the main papers it considered in advising the government of the strategy.
“There is evidence on modelling and on behavioural science, but I don’t see the evidence from the public health community or from the clinical community,” he explained.
Testing, isolation and quarantine – basic public health interventions – were barely on the agenda. Warnings from Chinese scientists of the severity of Covid-19 had not been understood.
Originally Posted by: xioni2