COVID-19: UK PM’s ‘let the bodies pile high’ comment creates uproar

It's going to be a tough call for Japan to make a second cancellation or risking a super spreader but that's what this pandemic is all about. While making tough calls, some leaders have thrived under the pressure, while others panicked.

The most crucial toss-up was between lockdowns and jobs. There is science to back both. Lockdowns act as circuit breakers as they flatten the curve and give governments breathing space. Last year, most countries used lockdowns to build their health systems. It has come in handy now during the second wave. On the flip side, lockdowns kill jobs. That's a fact as happened with daily wagers, gig workers and others.

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They don't have job security. The moment businesses shut down, they are unemployed. So, that's the choice for most leaders. Life versus livelihood and it's not as simple as it sounds. Many people will tell you that livelihood comes second but chances are these people have secure jobs. Striking this delicate balance is tough but it's important to make this decision with compassion. Something British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apparently failed to do.

This story is from October 2020. Britain was dealing with a new wave of infections. So, Johnson chaired a meeting to discuss a second lockdown. He grudgingly agreed to it but this is what he supposedly said after the meeting. "No more lockdowns. Let the bodies pile high in their thousands." The prime minister used some colourful language in his remarks. Boris Johnson would have rather presided over a bloodbath than impose a third lockdown, and, for the record, he did end up ordering a third lockdown. That's what saved Britain from complete collapse.

Leaders have resigned over far less in Britain, but Boris Johnson is not going down without a fight. He has denied making these remarks. The prime minister says he would rather focus on making the lockdowns work. For a man of many words, Johnson had very little to say about these reports.

Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, said, “No, but again, I think the important thing people want us to get on and do, as a government, is to make sure that the lockdowns work and they have, and I really pay tribute to the people of this country, this whole country, that have really pulled together and working with the vaccination programme, we've got the disease under control.”

Johnson has also deployed his ministers to defend him. Senior Minister Michael Gove says he was in the room for all pandemic meetings. He says he never heard language of this sort from the prime minister.

Govesaid, “The prime minister made a decision in that meeting to trigger a second lockdown; he made a subsequent decision to trigger a third lockdown. This is a prime minister, who was in hospital himself, in intensive care. The idea that he would say any such thing I find incredible. I was in that room, I never heard language of that kind.”

Only a public inquiry can get to the bottom of this, but one thing is certain. This wouldn't be Boris Johnson's first outrageous remark. When the coronavirus first came to Britain, he couldn't care less. Johnson made it a point to shake hands with everyone and then last month, he dropped another gem and said greed and capitalism helped Britain vaccinate effectively. He later called it a joke.

So, these new remarks are not beyond the British Prime Minister but it's his word against the British media's.

Letting bodies pile up is not a strategy, it is a death sentence. And unlike what many people think, this is not a toss-up between mass deaths and mass unemployment. There can be a middle ground.

In fact, the United Kingdom is a great example of this. They are running a massive furlough scheme through the pandemic. Millions of gig workers are out of work, but they are still getting paid. So, despite three lockdowns, there is no mass joblessness.

Just six days back, Britain reported a dip in its unemployment rate. So, you can have the best of both worlds but in some countries, things haven't panned out so well. Look at Brazil. President Jair Bolsonaro thinks lockdowns are deadlier than the virus and his countrymen are paying for it.

Same in the United States. Donald Trump resisted lockdowns throughout 2020. As a result, more than 500,000 Americans are dead. The bottom line is, lockdowns work but the tradeoff depends on how you manage it. Our lockdowns have also evolved since last year. We now have local lockdowns, mini lockdowns, and night curfews. So, the bitter pill is not as bitter anymore.

This doesn't make the choice any easier for leaders, but that's the job. No government has been perfect during this pandemic, their letups have cost lives, but it's important to be honest and compassionate about it.