World-beating? Testing Britain's Covid response and tracing the explanation.

Abstract

The UK, and England in particular, has suffered egregiously poor outcomes in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. This short perspective points to the explanation in terms of both current British politics and the public health policy inheritance. Boris Johnson's Premiership was born in an opportunistic assertion of British exceptionalism, and Johnson's initial, fate-tempting reaction to the novel Coronavirus set the UK on the wrong path. Furthermore, the gradual erosion of professionalism in (especially health) policy-making over almost four decades, and the hollowing-out of the health protection infrastructure, both facilitated and accentuated a toxic approach to managing Covid-19.

Citation

(2020). World-beating? Testing Britain's Covid response and tracing the explanation. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 238-245. https://doi.org/10.1017/S174413312000033X

• Acceptance Date: Aug 17, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 19, 2020
• Journal: Health Economics, Policy and Law
• Print ISSN: 1744-1331
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 238-245
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S174413312000033X
• Keywords: Covid-19; Johnson government; policy failure; UK
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/health-economics-policy-and-law/article/worldbeating-testing-britains-covid-response-and-tracing-the-explanation/6722CAEC0BAA3699E74FF86299047B3B