Malta and so many other nations have been reeling from the initial shock of what has happened in the first weeks of this decade.
Like with every other shock, we need to step back, come out of it and start to reflect on things in order to move ahead. Remaining shell shocked only leads to paralysis, both on an individual and national or international level.
It has been a time for us to reassess our priorities.
Health has been foremost in the minds of citizens and governments. The issue of unity and division also comes to mind. There are times to spar and times for people to come together. Division can be a very destructive energy.
It would be both immature and counter-productive if some people were to choose at this time to try and nit-pick and find fault in the policies being implemented to safeguard public health in our society. In times of war and other crises, people need to come together.
We also need to encourage our leaders to retain foresight, courage and fortitude to take the right decisions to move out of the current crisis.
The worst thing we could do, as citizens and as leaders, is to be crippled by fear or to allow others to pile on the fear, which would in turn cripple our small island nation.
To be involved in a crash is sometimes unavoidable. But the way we respond to an incident on the road may well determine how we survive a crash. If we slam on the breaks and panic, we may well do more harm than good. We may overturn our vehicle, or skid, sending it flying right into the chaos on the road. We have very little time to decide how to react. Every decision we take at such a time is vital and critical.
Malta has administered great caution during this crisis. We should not fret or nit-pick about decisions that have been made. But at this time, coming to another phase of the crisis, neither should Malta and its leaders relinquish the nation’s independence. We are now at the crossroads, where we need unity within our community, in order to take the wisest decisions to move on.
Some people may have overreacted to the fact that persons died recently who had been diagnosed as having contracted COVID-19.
The worst thing we could do, as citizens and as leaders, is to be crippled by fear, or to allow others to pile on the fear
It is important to put things into perspective and remember that around 200 persons a year succumb to influenza alone, while over 5,000 persons a year leave us. We should not lose this perspective and blow a crisis out of proportion.
There will always be persons succumbing to a disease. But in this natural process, the community also acquires herd immunity. We cannot keep running away from a pathogen. The community needs to face it and get immunised. That is how it has always worked.
Now that we are better prepared to handle persons falling ill, let us allow our public health policy set by the government to work towards herd immunity as we go back to kick-starting our economy that has been on hold.
It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that if we use a flame thrower to attack a bug on our walls, we stand a good chance of burning the whole house down. Yes, we would have destroyed the bug, but at what cost?
Malta has needed draconian measures to prepare for a possible outbreak of a pandemic. As a result, the disease has not hit our population badly in the most vulnerable months of the year. The overwhelming part of those contracting the disease, furthermore, has responded well.
The elderly and vulnerable should remain protected but the rest of the population can face the challenge and get natural immunity without having to keep the economy and people’s lives on hold.
I feel that we now need to start rolling back those draconian measures that may have been necessary at the start of the crisis, in order to bring life and our economy upon which we all depend back to normal.
The worst we could do is to remain paralysed by fear, either of contagion, or fear of rebuke or criticism from beyond our shores, or indeed from inside them.
Our island nation has survived two great sieges in its history, against all odds, and against the belief of the great powers beyond our shores. We have the wherewithal and the intelligence to do it again. But we must be sharp and take smart decisions, without being crippled by fear.
We are a self-contained archipelago and we can bring things back to normal while coping with containment of what the WHO has designated as a global pandemic.
We live in a globalised world and are thus interdependent upon other nations. But let us not forget that when the chips are down, we need to fend for ourselves. If we allow fear to collapse our economy, we are on our own and any bailouts offered will only tighten the noose around our necks even further.
Let us show courage and unity as a people to bring our islands back to normality, while remembering the lessons learnt along the way, taking affirmative action to keep maintaining our health and adopting caution, both on an individual and on a national level.
Our leaders also need encouragement and support from us to take the right decisions for the benefit of our nation.
Let us help them to do that. If we cripple ourselves with fear, we will also cripple and tie the hands of our leaders, thereby condemning our own nation and people to economic woes of possibly staggering proportions.
Rodolfo Ragonesi, lawyer and researcher