Over the holidays, I had the pleasure to watch the Netflix film Don’t Look Up (a political satire poking fun at society’s (non)reaction to an end of the world event) and for me it really captured the sentiment of the madness we are currently experiencing. 

At the end of 2021, the scientific data coming out of South Africa, which is circa four+ weeks ahead of Europe, we could take comfort in the knowledge that the Omicron variant was arguably the end of the pandemic. In fact, the University of Pretoria and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa have reported in a very recent study  that a “complete decoupling” of case and death rates was occurring and this would probably see the end to the coronavirus pandemic: 

“If this pattern continues and is repeated globally, we are likely to see a complete decoupling of case and death rates, suggesting that Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the epidemic phase of the COVID pandemic, ushering in its endemic phase.

Clearly, this contrasts with the reaction here in Malta. The government announced the now infamous ‘January 17, 2022’ as a cut-off date for the population to get triple jabbed or forfeit basic freedoms. To add insult to injury, the Chamber of Commerce came out with the odd suggestion of “....mandating vaccines for employees who have customer contact or who are in contact with several other employees...” which presumably means refusal to comply will lead to workers losing their jobs? 

So as the virus becomes endemic, we seem to have leaders in the country advocating a position in which non-vaccinated workers should not have a right to employment. The headline here being that people who are/were fully vaccinated (two jabs) but not boosted (three jabs) also fall in this category. Moreover, the mandatory requirement is being called at the end of the pandemic rather than at the beginning, which to me is nonsensical and when the country doesn’t have a national public health emergency in force. 

I have absolutely no idea what law or science this is based on but looking beyond our shores, I note that the Biden administration in America tried to impose a vaccine mandate on US businesses employing more than 100 employees but it was blocked by the courts.  Italy only got away with a host of a fascist type of public health laws because they have an almost perpetual ‘national public health emergency’ in place which interprets the ‘public good’ so roguishly that freedom and liberty are now under threat.

The vaccine does not stop transmission. Fact. Furthermore, the virus (dominated by the Omicron variant) is becoming endemic due to two equally important factors, namely, vaccine immunity plus natural immunity. We, therefore, beat the virus thanks to both vaccine and natural immunity, and finally herd immunity is in sight. 

We, therefore, need to seize the moment in early 2022 and focus on the post-pandemic recovery. To date we’ve been, as a country, too reactive and pessimistic. We need the leaders of this country, be they political leaders but also societal and business leaders, to transmit positivity based on the virus becoming endemic. Our economic recovery depends on it. 

To my mind, the first measure of the post-pandemic era should be to abolish quarantine rules especially for asymptomatic positive cases; to allow and promote self-testing and ultimately self-regulation; plus we need to stop discriminating at the workplace between the vaccinated, booster vaccinated, natural immunity and/or non-vaccinated workers/customers since the free market doesn’t operate well under such duress and the ‘public good’ does not need institutionalised discrimination.

The free market detests the ‘nanny state’ and that’s what we have right now

The free market also detests the ‘nanny state’ and that’s what we have right now: an overprotective and over-interfering style of government which tramples on peoples’ civil liberties and undermines the free market! 

In addition, we will subsequently need to oversee the dismantling of the current public health restrictions which range from pre-travel PCR tests, industry-defined health protocols, nonsensical face mask rules, especially outside, and the end of daily ‘reporting’ of positive COVID infections. This has to be done before Easter, so a clear message is given and confidence restored. 

I say all this because our economy depends heavily on tourism and to ensure this, we need to have a strong summer. Thus we need to remove pre-travel PCR tests since this is a significant added cost to our tourists, cease hotel quarantine decrees and restore freedom of movement for all tourists (vaccinated, booster vaccinated, natural immunity and/or non-vaccinated). In so doing, we restore confidence in travel and eliminate ‘economic friction’ which brakes or slows down the economic recovery. These measures will signify that Malta is open for commerce and business again, and that our economy can finally and properly recover without any more hurdles or U-turns. 

The mindset and message of our leaders, therefore, needs to dramatically change, otherwise, 2022 will just be another depressed 2020/2021 and for no valid reason.

Omicron is something to celebrate, since it marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic and our country can now start to focus on the economic recovery, creation of new jobs and restoration of freedoms/liberties. 

Don’t Look Up has a lot of relevance today! I hope we let the country move on and heal. Let’s turn a page and end discrimination at the workplace and society at large. We deserve it after the trauma we’ve been through as country in the last two years.

Don’t be scared and have the courage to look up.