The quote attributed to him (I've not seen his press briefing myself, so I can't say whether it's accurate) is this:
> Last year I wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning.
There are three key bits there:
> I wrote
The blog post is some 1800 words, two-thirds of which is a verbatim quote from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Once you taken away the leading epigraph from David Deutsch and the rather long title, there are barely 400 words of actual content from Cummings.
> about the possible threat of coronaviruses
In its original form, the post does not mention coronaviruses. The only pathogens mentioned are Ebola and various types of flu, and those only appear in the extensive quote from BAS.
> and the urgent need for planning
The only planning it refers to is greater security for laboratories studying dangerous pathogens, specifically the use of red teams to test the security of British research facilities. There is nothing about preparing for pandemics, whether stockpiling equipment, contingency plans for dealing with a pandemic, emergency powers legislation, determining criteria for imposing or lifting lockdowns, etc.
Given that Cummings appears to be using this post as a refutation of the accusation that he initially favoured "herd immunity" as the strategy for dealing with COVID-19 in the UK, his representation of it seems a little disingenuous.
And a curious coincidence he made such a modification when he returned from Durham. Almost as if he knew he'd have to start creating justification for the trip. A coincidence indeed!
> Last year I wrote about the possible threat of coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning.
There are three key bits there:
> I wrote
The blog post is some 1800 words, two-thirds of which is a verbatim quote from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Once you taken away the leading epigraph from David Deutsch and the rather long title, there are barely 400 words of actual content from Cummings.
> about the possible threat of coronaviruses
In its original form, the post does not mention coronaviruses. The only pathogens mentioned are Ebola and various types of flu, and those only appear in the extensive quote from BAS.
> and the urgent need for planning
The only planning it refers to is greater security for laboratories studying dangerous pathogens, specifically the use of red teams to test the security of British research facilities. There is nothing about preparing for pandemics, whether stockpiling equipment, contingency plans for dealing with a pandemic, emergency powers legislation, determining criteria for imposing or lifting lockdowns, etc.
Given that Cummings appears to be using this post as a refutation of the accusation that he initially favoured "herd immunity" as the strategy for dealing with COVID-19 in the UK, his representation of it seems a little disingenuous.