COVID-19: An ugly milestone

The number of COVID-19 cases found in Malta since the first case was registered eight months ago has now exceeded 7,000.

The number of active cases keeps edging closer to 2,000.

74 people have died so far and, unfortunately, that number is expected to increase, especially when considering that three different homes for the elderly are dealing with an outbreak of the Coronavirus.

Also worrying is the fact that the average age of the people who died of COVID-19 has gone down - some of the people who died over the past week were in their 50s.

The only positive milestone reached so far is that 5,000 people have recovered. Other than that, it’s not looking very good.

To be fair, things are not looking bad in Malta only. Rather, this is a global trend that is worsening now that winter is setting in and the influenza season is upon us.

The difference so far, it seems, is that many European countries are moving to try and curb the infection rate, whereas we seem to be more reluctant to act.

Many countries, not only in Europe but around the world, have started imposing partial lockdowns.

Germany seems to be resisting such action, but the country yesterday registered a new daily record, with over 23,000 new cases found.

In Italy, many non-essential retail outlets in four regions have been forced to shutter down.

The same is happening in France and Belgium. The rules in England are even more restrictive, with people urged to stay indoors and only go out for education and work.

On the other side of the pond, Chicago authorities are mulling a stay-at-home order in view of an alarming spike in cases. They have registered upwards of 20,000 new cases over past two days. Other parts of the US have shut businesses down as they try to control surging numbers.

Locally, rumours are swirling about a new set of restrictive measures, but nothing has been communicated officially so far. Critics argue that the recently introduced rules on the closure of bars and każini are not bearing fruit because the daily number of cases remains high. Others have said that the mandatory use of masks has done nothing to keep the infection rate down. In fact, the highest number of daily cases and deaths were registered over the last three weeks, after the mandatory use of masks came into force.

Medical experts have urged the government to act, saying that the health system could collapse if the current rate of infections is sustained. To make matters worse, there seems to be a problem with the procurement of the second batch of the influenza vaccine, and the heads of the two main medical associations have told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the government is coming up with “political excuses” to cover for the fact that the vaccine is out of stock.

The argument of health versus economy has been made many times and the issue remains a pertinent one. No major country, it seems, has the appetite to move towards a full lockdown, because we know by now that the consequences on the economy could be disastrous. Perhaps the effort should not be on closing down non-essential outlets this time, but on urging people to stay at home, at least for a few weeks. We say this because, from the limited information we are given daily by the health authorities, it seems that the virus is spreading mainly among work colleagues and family members.

Gone are the fears that COVID19 is bring brought into the country by tourists, or that people are infecting each other at bars and shops. The main culprit now seems to be the unbridled mingling of families and friends, and the fact that infected people are still showing up at work and passing on the virus to their colleagues.

Teleworking is now required more than ever. And family gatherings, which remain largely unaffected by rules aimed mainly at meetings in public places, need to be looked into.

Imposing a total or partial lockdown will undoubtedly hurt the economy. But failing to address these issues will also have serious repercussions further down the line, and risks placing the healthcare system under a burden that could prove too heavy to carry.