When Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli launched the Christmas in the City pro­ject this week there was an immediate storm of protest from medical professional bodies and the public.

To many, the initiative seemed illo­gical and disrespectful to those who have died, to their families and to the frontliners in the battle against the coronavirus. It also went against what other countries, with infection rates similar or below our own, are doing to tackle the spread.

Back in early July, Malta was in the happy position of having hardly any COVID-19. At one point, we had a run of several days with no new cases and had suffered what now seems like a paltry nine deaths.

The government triumphantly declared Malta had beaten the pandemic and decided we could afford to reopen our ports and airport and allow mass events to take place. This, again, went against the cautious advice of medical professionals and epidemiologists, who were vilified for being negative by the very people who, just weeks before, had hung out flags in their honour.

Fast forward four months and Malta has over 2,000 active cases while fast approaching 100 deaths.

The decisions made in July assumed that, opening the country, would save jobs, profits and the hospitality industry. Instead, it has proven disastrous to business and public health.

But instead of learning from that mistake, the same people are willing to repeat it. To err is human but to repeat that error when all evidence suggests it could put health and lives at risk is downright inhumane.

Despite the rushed reassurances that no mass events will take place, the whole point of the initiative is to draw people to the city in large numbers. And crowds are just what the health authorities are telling the public to avoid.

Luring people into Valletta with the promise of free parking and street entertainment will only make controlling our local epidemic that much harder and more complicated.

It also sends confusing signals to an already confused public, especially coming a few days after Chris Fearne, the Minister for Health, warned the country to resign itself to a different kind of Christmas this year.

Instead of emphasising the importance of social distancing and meeting others as little as possible, the initiative encourages people to gather. Some will take that as a green light to do exactly the same thing elsewhere.

Rather than leading by example, the government is very publicly ignoring professional medical advice but then repeatedly implores the public to follow it.

From the accounts of medical associa­tions, the overstretched health services are fast reaching saturation point, where all treatment, COVID-19 or otherwise, will begin to deteriorate and thousands of patients will suffer as a result.

Medical staff are increasingly tired, both mentally and physically. Rather than being supported by the government, they have been dealt yet another blow to morale. They feel used and abused when the government, with its pro-business propaganda, does not res­pect their sacrifice.

Most importantly, as a result of this initiative, more people – with or without underlying medical conditions – may die.

They would die alone. More families will grieve while denied of their very human need to properly say goodbye to their loved ones.

Christmas is a time of gift-giving. The greatest gift of all is life. Let’s not do anything to take it away from those around us.

A vaccine is tantalisingly close. Let us all be patient and forego the festive crowds. Christmas in the City can wait until next year.

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