Pandemic incompetence – take two – Peter Agius
The pandemic indeed hit our islands like it did the rest of the world. However, unlike the rest of the world, we seem to not be learning how to balance economic needs with health considerations, oscillating from one extreme to the other.
Government’s announced draconian measures amount in practice to a prohibition of family travel for Maltese residents living abroad. This together with the closing down of language schools, including those catering for vaccinated adult learners, shows that the government is incapable of finding the much required golden mean in the handling of this pandemic.
Once again Abela’s ‘ mechanisms’ have wreaked havoc. Once again, Malta’s tourism strategy focused on attracting the low-cost-high-risk profile. They practically lured the unprotected and most likely spreaders with a 200 euro handout for teenager tourists. Last year it was the pool parties which led us here. You might have said that we learned the lesson. No. Another tourist season, another massive gaffe putting much needed tourist cash inflow in peril due to a lack of foresight.
Cases are now spiralling again. Did anyone in charge of Malta’s tourism strategy seriously expect teenage tourists with a 200 euro open bar ticket to observe social distancing?
They cooked the pot of pandemic contagion, now we need to put down the fire. But instead of lowering the burner and keeping the pot under strict vigilance, they decided to take the pot and throw it out in the pool. What’s worse is that there is a world of uncertainty piling up in the tourism industry and for thousands of Maltese expats visiting family.
The least government should do is to respond with clear answers to a myriad of open questions resulting from its draconian and rash handling. First of all, it was announced that all adults and children over 11 will need a vaccination certificate to be allowed entry. What about those vaccinated with non EMA approved vaccines? Many expats living in the UK, Dubai and Eastern Europe have a vaccine certificate with Pfizer batches which were simply not considered as part of the European Medicine Agency recognition protocol. Do the reasons leading to their recognition equate to a good reason to impose quarantine for hundreds returning home? What about 12-16 year olds? Nowhere in Europe are we close enough to have this age group vaccinated yet. The measures in this case equate to a prohibition of family reunions for thousands of Maltese expats.
As Bernard Grech said on Saturday, there are many grandparents which have not seen their grand-kids for over a year now. Malta’s opening up to tourism was an invitation for all our expats to book flights as it was for the Maltese to book short trips abroad. Are we in a position to reimburse all of these commitments? Should we treat responsible families with small children visiting grandmas with the same rule as we treat partying teenagers?
The government has made a mess of the pandemic handling once again. In a crisis like the recent spike, one needs to keep a cool head and invest in management. That was not done in this case. So much so that we sent shockwaves through European media which, faced with a communication fiasco, judged Malta as promoting discrimination. This is something which we cannot afford. Personally speaking, I would insist that the Maltese government retains the competence to decide on health matters in a health emergency like this. We must, however, quash immediately all ambiguous statements leading to pointers of discriminatory treatment.
For this reason as well, I submitted a personal proposal on Saturday night to include the objective criteria of ‘family reunion’ as a justification to allow for an exception to the mandatory certification and quarantine regimes. My understanding is that the health authorities were indeed open to this justification. On a similar note, the legal notice to regulate travel has taken too long to be published. I will keep on pressing for clarity in the meanwhile, for the sake of the thousands thrown in limbo thanks to the government’s latest management failure.