But as we know (as I’ve attached this previously) it wasn’t the governments plan to ‘take it on the chin’
Here is the transcript of what Boris Johnson said on This Morning about the new coronavirus
This was from 5 March, 10-14 days prior to implementation of social distancing measures ie saying they would take measures to flatten the peak rather that just let everyone get it.
From my understanding, what most commentators appear to be missing (or ignoring) is that the herd immunity theory is still there as a potential underlying longer term benefit of flattening the curve ie you try to minimise the pressure on NHS via lockdowns (which will have to continue until a vaccine is found or antibody tests potentially allow some kind of immunity certificate), gradually more of the population will get it, hopefully without us breaching NHS capacity (although this is unlikely in the next week or two), so with time you have a chance of building herd immunity.
obviously that is very much a last resort as we hope the vaccine will be with us before then or the virus just disappears (the latter being very unlikely unfortunately)
ps the more accurate questions are...1) did the government believe they could do this without implementing strict measures and 2) whether the government implemented the distancing measures soon enough to ensure NHS capacity isn’t breached (which also ties into expansion of capacity and ventilator orders)
I’m not trying to be pedantic but there’s a difference with how some people frame the above