Why Boris Johnson Reversed Britain’s Virus Response
The U.K. government’s gradualist approach to fighting the virus unnerved many scientists. New modelling suggests it was wrong.
New data and modelling meant that Boris Johnson's plans to "squash the sombrero" had to change.
Photographer: Richard Pohle/The Times via Getty Images
Flanked by his chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser Monday afternoon, Boris Johnson didn’t so much announce an escalation in the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis as signal a sharp course correction.
Exactly why the government has changed direction was confirmed some hours later, when the Imperial College Covid-19 Response Team, whose epidemiological modelling helps inform U.K. policy-making, published a bombshell report on its findings with implications for both Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump. If either follows the logic of the report, there are far more stringent measures to come and long-term implications we’ve only begun to contemplate.