A Third Wave of Covid-19 is NOT inevitable

Contrary to Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford's claims, a third wave of Covid-19 infections is NOT inevitable.

In fact, there was nothing inevitable about a second wave.

If decisive action were taken to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus from the beginning, we could have defeated it by now, our schools would be back to normal and we would be repairing the economic damage rather than sustaining yet more of it.

But for that to happen we needed a testing and tracing system that worked effectively from the beginning. Rather than handing out contracts to the rich mates of the Tories, that would have meant nationalising the productive capacity we needed to make and process tests in a public sector that we controlled democratically.

And we needed the lockdown plan to be under the control of ordinary workers, not big business and the political parties they control. Because the bosses ran the show, we had big companies like EE calling in high street retail workers during the first lockdown, claiming they were "key workers". No wonder there have been 3500 outbreaks of infection in workplaces, with the toothless Health and Safety Executive not closing a single one during the pandemic.

120,000 died with Covid-19 last year, at the best estimate. Almost every one of them is an unnecessary tragedy. The death toll isn't a natural disaster: it happened because politicians like the Welsh Labour Government were not prepared to stand up to the pressure of big business when they demanded profits are prioritised over our safety. We are building the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition to put a stop to that criminal behaviour.