COVID-19 infection rate will only decrease if bars, restaurants, gyms are closed, pathologists say

The current restrictions introduced to stem the tide of COVID-19 cases are “too little too late”, according to the Malta College of Pathologists, who said that making masks mandatory but leaving bars, restaurants, and gyms open will have no effect on the situation.

In a statement, the College said that this was a tactic tried in Spain which did not work, noting that Spain is one of Europe’s worst hit country by the pandemic.

The College said bars, restaurants and gyms were recently highlighted by the American Centre for Disease Control as being of greatest risk for the spread of the coronavirus.

“Half-hearted or superficial interventions will unlikely be effective in reducing the rate of transmission,” they said.

“It is not surprising that many EU countries have understood that only an aggressive strategy, that involves targeted shutdowns of high-risk locations and prohibiting unnecessary congregations in all settings, is likely to stem the second wave.”

The association said the longer authorities take to implement these strict measures; the more cases Malta will experience.

It also referred to Prime Minister Robert Abela’s statements on Sunday, where he claimed that experts had foreseen thousands of deaths at the start of the pandemic but this did not happen.

“Contrary to what the Prime Minister said, no local specialists ever said that deaths in their thousands were expected and God forbid this were the projected scenario, seeing our population is only 440,000,” it said.

The College also claimed that feedback from experts in the medical sector was not being taken onboard by the government

“Feedback from colleagues and the various statements from specialist associations, including public health experts, clearly demonstrate the opposite. Advice of medical experts is not being taken on board and this is precisely why the situation is spiralling out of control,” it said.

The College said that its suggestion to government for the setting up of a committee of experts in public health, microbiology and infectious disease epidemiology, management and prevention, together with economists and social scientists who would advise on the COVID-19 pandemic, was also ignored.