#188: Professor Mark Woolhouse OBE: Covid-19 Corruption And The Mismanagement Of The Pandemic

Did lockdown really help prevent the spread of Covid-19? Or did we make the global crisis even worse? There’s no doubt that the pandemic had a catastrophic impact on the world. Millions of lives were lost, livelihoods destroyed, and the cost to the economy was hundreds of billions of dollars. I am excited to share my conversation with Prof. Mark Woolhouse OBE – a leading epidemiologist, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh and Advisor to the UK government – as we discuss the pandemic, the decisions that were made and alternative ways for managing the outbreak. Prof Woolhouse is also the author of the new book “The Year The World Went Mad” - a scientific memoir about the pandemic - so he is the perfect guest to share whether or not lockdown made (and still makes) sense, why politicians chose to ignore expert opinions, how the UK managed the spread of the virus and how we should deal with future outbreaks.   Discussion points 04:32 About Mark 6:50 Who advises the government 08:30 UAE vs UK Covid-19 response 12:58 Working with politicians 14:50 How the UK handled Covid-19 15:50 If lockdowns make sense 18:24 Alternative solutions 21:34 Why politicians ignore experts 23:15 Covid-19 statistics 27:15 How it feels to be ignored 28:53 Other scientists’ frustration 31:19 Finance benefits 32:42 Empathy for politicians 34:58 The measures that Mark supported 39:50 How should we deal with future outbreaks 46:00 Has the world moved on? 49:17 The risk for minorities 56:45 Mark’s book: The Year The World Went Mad 01:02:00 The number of people died VS those that suffered in other ways Show Sponsors: Smartkas: Providing food security as a service Arabian Business: The region’s leading source of business news, analytics, thought-leadership and features. Najahi Events: The UAE’s leading event promotor   Socials: Spencer Lodge https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/ https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV   Prof. Mark Woolhouse OBE Buy Mark’s book: https://sandstonepress.com/books/the-year-the-world-went-mad