They are ahead in the sense that the virus is already worse there. But they caught it late. They had more cases than here - far more - by the time they took the action.
The gov are - rightly are wrongly - attempting to delay the impact because they know the NHS can't handle it.
Italy had to go into lockdown so quickly because they were so late in getting to the virus in the first place. That week of hesitation/not knowing about those cases in the north did for them. So while the action has been swift once they knew, it's had to be so dramatic because of that time missed.
I think the gov's plan is that they know this is gonna happen now but thankfully we've had fair warning. It's unfortunately not feasible to put the entire nation into lockdown for three months. It just isn't.
Schools can't be shut for three months, for example. What's going to happen to the parents? They'll need to work to be able to keep going. So who cares for the kids? Grandparents? So that just creates another problem.
I agree entirely that sporting events should already have been cancelled. That's on the gov but also on the daft PL and EFL money men. Now it's impacted them directly that will change.
But we are where we are with it. Nothing is going to stop it now so the only hope is to manage how and when people are infected. I know it sounds awful but it's the only thing which can be done since the gov have gone down this path.
I imagine mass quarantine/school closures etc will come in mid-April in the Easter holidays (schools would already have been shut for example). And they'll be hoping it's a gradual rise and then fall over a six/seven week period up until the start of the summer.
