There have been more than enough scientific sources published for the effectiveness of masks. I hope you still don't doubt that part. I will not cite them. People have been crowding and not wearing masks across the country. Do you want a scientific source for that? There may never be one. The Indians who step out of their homes are aware of this already.
No government or healthcare system can keep up with people flouting the scientific recommendations on such a scale.
I was not disagreeing with the articles claim people flouting rules caused a spike. But the people or the country isn't by itself responsible. Rather a callous government that was indifferent to this pandemic is.
It had an year to prepare. It did nothing more than PR works
What's with the hyperbole? To disprove your point, I just have to point to one thing that the government did that was not PR?
- What narrative, specifically?
- At the time, I too was in support of supplying vaccines to countries who were in desperate need of it. I still don't mind waiting a few months if the vaccines that should have come to me go to a healthcare worker in some other country instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26346021
- There is no reason to take anything Shiv Sena says at face value. This is the single worst party in India. If law and order had worked in India, these people would have been declared terrorists long before most of us were born. They continue to mistreat doctors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vUUQEpJEG4) and threaten hospitals (https://twitter.com/amitsurg/status/1299352826636722176) across the state. Also, while all other states had the pandemic somewhat under control at one time or another, MH consistently stayed at #1 or #2 among the worst affected states.
Shiv Sena is for sure known for their thuggery and being a party of regionalistic goons. They're hardly very different from their erstwhile allies the BJP though.
No government or healthcare system can keep up with people flouting the scientific recommendations on such a scale.