The UK government’s decision to outsource coronavirus contact tracing to private call centre operators including Serco has been branded “bewildering” by an independent group of scientists set up in parallel to the government’s official science advisers.
The “Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies”, led by former chief scientific adviser David King, today criticising the government’s covid-19 approach so far, from its use of statistics to its new “stay alert” messaging.
The document comes as the published figures showing deaths in England and Wales have been above the five-year average for seven weeks in a row, with covid-19 mentioned in more than 33,000 death certificates by 1 May.
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King said at a virtual press conference today that his group was “not happy” with the government’s decision to stop contact tracing on 12 March. The UK government has set a target of recruiting 18,000 contact tracers by the middle of May, but has declined to tell żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ how many are in place so far. Most of the work will be contracted to two private firms, .
“It’s very bewildering to outsource contact tracing to Serco and to have a centralised system. This doesn’t make sense,” said Allyson Pollock at Newcastle University, one of the group’s 12 members. It would have been better to have focused on working with family doctors, local environmental health officers and local authorities for contact tracing, she said. “To use the fire analogy, it’s thousands of outbreaks, and when you want to put out a fire in Blackpool or Cumbria or the Isle of Wight, you don’t call the fire engine from Westminster, London, you have to do that locally. That way you engage, you understand your local communities.”
The group was damning about the slogan Boris Johnson unveiled on Sunday of “stay alert” rather than “stay at home”, as the prime minister encouraged people who cannot work from home to go out to work.
Group member Zubaida Haque of race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust said that many people in vulnerable communities now had no choice but to go to work. “To some extent, this is a reckless message and it puts the onus of responsibility on individuals who don’t necessarily have all the information to protect themselves.”
The group was lukewarm about for a new biosecurity centre to monitor local covid-19 outbreaks and dictate the national alert level. Deenan Pillay at University College London said “it does seem worrying that another structure is being set up”, given organisations such as Public Health England (PHE) are already in place.
King argued that pressure from his group had already achieved some success, citing the names of scientists currently serving on the official Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are working at pace with public health experts from PHE and local government to develop our enhanced contact tracing programme, which will significantly improve our ability to track the virus and stop the spread.
“We fully appreciate that local government knowledge is vital and provides a unique insight into working at the front line in our communities.”
