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From The Socialist newspaper, 21 October 2020
Oxbridge gets private Covid tests: pool resources to test us all!
Photo Fæ/CC (Click to enlarge)
Michael Morgan, Warwick Socialist Students
All Cambridge student households have been receiving random testing from the university, while the NHS is only testing individuals showing symptoms. In the Cambridge system, a household of ten students puts swabs into a shared bag. If any come back positive, they are then tested individually.
In similar fashion, Oxford University Hospital Trust - which processes NHS tests for the government - has, in fact, also processed tests for a private school and Oxford University. It just goes to show that it's one pandemic for the rich and privileged, and another for the working class!
Students at universities with less generous funding than Oxbridge will instead have to go through an already-overwhelmed NHS testing service. At Worcester, for example, students rely on the NHS system, with only one walk-in testing centre and the app to help control the spread.
It seems some students are born with a silver swab in their mouths. The mix of private and public in the testing system reveals the deep divide between rich and poor.
But the epidemiologist Julian Peto estimated in April that the UK has the capacity for ten million tests a day, or the whole population each week. Private testing resources should be brought into a publicly owned system which can pool these resources and guarantee efficient testing for all.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 21 October 2020:
Lockdown
Health before profit - Work or full pay
Wales 'firebreak' lockdown fails to protect workers
Liverpool lockdown: suspicion and anger
Newcastle lockdown: stress and breakdowns
Leicester lockdown: disillusionment and anger
Unison
Why the Socialist Party is backing Hugo Pierre for Unison general secretary
International
Nigeria protests: 'This movement needs to fight the whole rotten capitalist system'
Horrific murder in Paris: fight intolerance and racism!
South Africa: Mass day of action for permanent jobs and a living wage
News
Tories reduce winter homeless funding: reverse the cuts,use the empty homes!
World capitalism's terrified strategists abandon austerity - for now
Coronavirus
Test and Trace U-turn on stopping local case reporting
Oxbridge gets private Covid tests: pool resources to test us all!
Millennials disillusioned with 'democracy'
Workplace
RMT: Programme to fight redundancies and cuts
Action on Covid transmission in schools now
FCC dismiss Unison activist Tony Smith
Optare workers strike over pay broken 'promise'
Solidarity with Deliveroo Couriers in York
Campaigns
Students: Give us our money back
Fight for your future at the online rally
Southampton: Coxford community condemns racist attack
Socialism 2020: Will you help our finance appeal?
Selling the Socialist: increase in NHS anger
Truth about Zane: Cover-up Tories crack
Kent: Chaotic privatised asylum process
Teignmouth hospital closure threat ... again!
Readers' opinion
Books that inspired me: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Beware the billionaires bearing gifts
Disabled students let down by "rotten education system"
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