Times of Malta has reported on some of the difficulties that contact tracers at the department of public health are facing when they try to get in touch with people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus and instruct them to go into quarantine.
They are coming up against significant lack of cooperation, refusal to divulge information and downright threats and abuse.
They are being challenged by those who either fail to understand the seriousness of the situation or are too egotistic to realise that what the callers at the other end of the line are doing – and many are volunteers – is try to bring this epidemic under control before it does further damage to the health and economy of this country.
Many of the people who are called do not feel unwell or have not developed any symptoms, so they may not have grasped the fact that they can still transmit COVID-19 to others, at the risk of causing serious illness or death.
This confusion has not been helped by conflicting signals sent over the summer by people in authority.
While the ministry and department of health, backed by an army of medical professionals, have been dispensing advice and strengthening mitigation measures, the message that has been pushed by the prime minister is that all is well, this is not serious, life must go on.
Life must indeed go on, but it must do so in the context of COVID-19. And the quicker we get the virus under control, the better it will be for everyone.
This can only be achieved when the public and all stakeholders cooperate with the guidelines and instructions issued by the health authorities. The tourism authorities and industry have belatedly realised that short-term relief from controlling measures will only lead to longer-term pain.
Granted, the idea of spending two weeks in quarantine at the height of summer, indeed at any time, is far from pleasurable.
It may help those tempted to ignore the call from the health department, or slam down the phone, to understand that thousands of health workers are once again practising self-imposed quarantine, as are just as many elderly and other vulnerable people. This time, however, a lot of this sacrifice is being caused by the blindness and selfishness of others.
It is an enormous task to track and trace all possible contacts and get them to quarantine for the protection of others.
This task is getting exponentially harder as more and more sporadic cases are found. The department has boosted its workforce in a bid to cope but all this effort is undermined by members of the public who do not do their duty towards fellow citizens.
Failure to cooperate just heightens the chance that a loved one, a friend, or indeed they themselves, will get sick or worse.
The bitter lesson learnt over the last couple of weeks is that the economic consequences of the spreading infection here in Malta depend on the perception of the outside world of how we are handling it.
What other countries look at is the all-important fortnightly rate of new infections per 100,000 population. Ours has been among the very highest in Europe. If it continues to rise, it will surely devastate what’s left of our tourism industry.
This appeal goes out to those who would prefer to continue making the most of the summer to the possible detriment of friends and family and the long-term health of the country and its economy: do the right thing. Cooperate with the department of public health.