Toby Young

Boris Johnson’s human shield

• From magazine issue: 10 October 2020

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  Boris Johnson’s human shield

  

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Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

I thought he might be in difficulty earlier this week when Amnesty International published its investigation into why around 40 per cent of all Covid deaths in England have occurred in care homes. It described the government’s treatment of care home residents as ‘inhuman and degrading’ and said their fundamental human rights had been violated. At the beginning of the viral outbreak, Hancock claimed a ‘protective ring’ had been thrown around the care sector, but that wasn’t quite accurate. We now know that the government was so worried about the NHS being overwhelmed, hospitals were effectively ordered to discharge elderly patients back into care homes without first checking whether they had Covid-19. Many of them did and they went on to infect other residents, but few were able to get proper medical care because hospitals wouldn’t admit them and GPs wouldn’t visit. The ‘protective ring’ was more like a prison wall. It didn’t stop infected people getting in; it stopped them getting out.

Of the 28,186 excess deaths recorded in English care homes from 2 March to 12 June, 18,562 were attributed to Covid-19, while the remaining 9,624 weren’t. Amnesty speculates that some of these will have been due to undiagnosed Covid, but others will have been an indirect result of government policy. When the country was locked down, far fewer people than normal were treated for heart attacks, cancer, strokes and diabetes, and dementia deaths increased by 50 per cent. Many care home residents will have died as a result of enforced isolation, their only social contact being with tired and overworked staff wearing masks, face shields and plastic overalls.

I’m not saying Matt Hancock is to blame for any of these deaths, but if the buck doesn’t stop with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who does it stop with? Incredibly, though, the media hasn’t paid much attention to the Amnesty report so Hancock hasn’t been damaged by it. But the goodwill of the public is gradually being exhausted and it won’t be long before it’s time for Boris to initiate Operation Scapegoat.