Prime Minister, if we get coronavirus, you told us blithely last week in a hastily organised press conference in response to the alarming rise of COVID-19 infections, we will only get mild symptoms.
When I wrote my column ‘The second wave of irresponsibility’ (May 24), I thought I might have been a little excessive in my criticism. Now I see that I was lenient.
The press conference was another lame attempt on your part to shift the blame for the massive failure of your leadership by pointing fingers at the “fearmongering” and “alarmist” doctors for advising caution. A few days earlier you blamed the migrants. If “everything is under control” as you keep saying, why do you feel the need to shift the blame every other day?
At the start of this pandemic, Minister for Health Chris Fearne and the Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci advised social distancing, the wearing of masks and the shielding of the vulnerable.
We locked down our elderly. We deprived them of the warmth of family. But we complied because it was all for the best.
Some of us hung national flags and clapped for the frontliners. Some drew rainbows and others organised concerts for our healthcare workers. We called them heroes. So did you.
And the contagion exploded. The doctors advised caution. You attacked them- Alessandra Dee Crespo
Everyone was on message. We felt safe for we were all in the same boat.
Then you started undermining Malta’s COVID-19 contingency plans faster than one can say “Kuraġġ Malta”.
You started small.
You went on walkabouts in Valletta, took selfies and shook hands. All the while not wearing your mask.
You sat with members of your government and the opposition for a coffee when the ban of groups of more than four was in place. You were 10.
When we started slowly to get used to the ‘new normal’ and were urged by the health authorities to stick to the protocol to contain the second wave when it comes, you trotted to your party’s television station (as usual) and told us instead that the “waves are in the sea”. You begged us not to “ruin your summer”.
Yes, because looking after the people is such an inconvenience. You suggested waiving the fines meted out to those who disregarded the legal notices issued by the Superintendent of Public Health, thus undermining her authority even further. Then you yanked her off the air. You don’t like competition.
What a damning catalogue of irresponsibility, prime minister.
But I am not finished.
Then you went full-blown Trumpian with the help of your sidekicks – the saturnine Tony Zahra of the MHRA and the hapless Minister of Tourism Julia Farrugia Portelli and her wondrous ‘mechanism’ on the BBC.
You opened our airport to high-risk countries with no testing on arrival, and you sanctioned mass events.
And the contagion exploded.
The doctors advised caution. You attacked them. Those who had called them heroes joined in. From heroes to zeroes.
When the doctors pressed on, you reluctantly cancelled all mass events, but like a sullen child you stuck to your 100 indoor/300 outdoor events, all the while knowing that one cluster of infections was traced back to a confirmation party.
The doctors stuck to their guns and you went on TV and blamed them for being negative.
But what do these doctors know? After all, you assured us that if we get the virus the symptoms are mild.
For those who can read between the lines, what you meant was that if you are young and healthy, don’t fret. If you are old or infirm, well, tough!
But science tells us that by often being so mild in the young and healthy, the virus turns people into careless carriers, potential executioners of the elderly and the sick.
The virus is already discriminatory, prime minister, why are you piling on the discrimination?
Our elderly and those with underlying conditions are the forgotten victims of this pandemic. They have already spent more than three months deprived of the company of their relatives. They are now being punished because of your recklessness.
Lockdown beckons again.
Some won’t die of COVID but of COVID-related ailments like loneliness. My formidable 100-year-old grandmother has already witnessed the death of friends in her care home because all of sudden they have nothing to live for.
But they’re old, right?
Who cares if some need psychiatric help because of your negligence? They’re old anyway! They don’t turn the wheels of your beloved economy. You are a proponent of the ‘throwaway culture’ lamented by Pope Francis. But what does he know? Isn’t he old too?!
What’s it to you, right? Why should you care about our frightened elderly in their homes and our children who might not go back to school in September because of your gross negligence?
Why should you care as you ride the waves in your brand new, shiny toy in Sicily, and as your special advisor to the economy hobnobs with the ‘jetset’ in the Mediterranean?
Surely, we know what we’re doing, bleated minister Farrugia Portelli. Yes, of course you do. If you consider pandering to big business over the well-being of the people as a priority.
At your latest press conference you told us that no catastrophe will visit us, Dr Abela.
I beg to differ. You are the catastrophe, prime minister.
Alessandra Dee Crespo is a member of Repubblika Executive Committee.