The COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant health, economic and other problems in every continent and in virtually every country, but to varying degrees. Some countries have experienced a major ‘hit’ in terms of the number of infected patients and, unfortunately, very high mortality rates, and this applies especially to those countries that were among the first to be affected.

Healthcare services in other countries have looked on with increasing concern, noted the experience of those countries ‘on the front line’, and have taken action that they deemed appropriate for their own situation.

Some countries decided on aggressive action and moved to rigid and enforced social distancing measures from quasi to complete lockdown of badly affected areas or the whole country, earlier rather than later.

Others decided to monitor their own evolving epidemic for longer before up-scaling distancing measures. It is now becoming increasingly clear that, for those countries who opted for more stringent measures earlier, the mortality rates have been significantly lower.

Thankfully, Malta falls in the second category and, so far, Malta’s statistics relating to COVID-19 are ‘good’. The number of cases on the island of Malta and Gozo is still relatively small and, at the time of writing, there have been no deaths related to COVID-19.

This is despite Malta having one of the greatest population densities in the world combined with high risk sub-populations including the elderly, diabetics, cardiac patients, and the obese, to name just a few.

There are several reasons for this relatively positive situation, including early, timely and appropriate changes in our healthcare and all other social entities and support services that have been mobilised into pandemic-ready and pandemic-managing modes at short notice.

The co-operation and inter-service support has been exemplary and credit is due to all involved.

However, the number of infected individuals and, sadly, the number who may not survive COVID-19 in Malta, is likely to change (Malta has not yet reached its pandemic peak) and, at this point, it is not only important to try and keep the numbers down but, most importantly, to avoid huge spikes in infected cases becoming unwell simultaneously over very short periods of time.

Ultimately, the risks – by far and away – of contracting this virus is from relatively close contact with other infected individuals

This is precisely what has and is happening in countries like Italy and Spain and cities like New York, where the sudden influx of extreme numbers of cases has totally overwhelmed their health services. Despite all our preparations, a tsunami of cases each day for several days in Malta will have the same impact on our healthcare system that would be stretched to the limit or worse.

Working conditions would mirror those of our neighbours with a concomitant rise in infected healthcare workers and, potentially, a similarly depressing death rate.

Difficult decisions on who does or does not receive intensive measures would need to be taken, simply because there would never be enough to cope with the influx of patients.

So what can we do to avoid this nightmare scenario and maintain our favourable stats? For its part, the Department of Health has continued the policy of aggressive swabbing to pick up as many infected individuals as early as possible, thereby isolating or quarantining these as early as possible, and before they have infected many others.

Likewise, there has been a racking up of social distancing – now limiting groups to just three individuals, as well as working and staying at home whenever possible, and this policy has been widely disseminated by all the mainstream media who, in turn, are presenting well-balanced coverage of the pandemic.

Hand washing, regular disinfection with simple detergents and coughing/sneezing into tissues will all help reduce the spread of the virus. Although much discussion has focused on the possibility of picking up the virus from worktops, groceries and food, these are unlikely sources and amount to exceptional cases.

Ultimately, the risks – by far and away – of contracting this virus is from relatively close contact with other infected individuals, some of whom may be spreading the virus even before they have any symptoms. Hence, it is entirely sensible to reduce or even avoid contact with others in the first place.

This is something that virtually everyone can do and it is the single most important step that can influence and hopefully avert a rush on our health services. Trips outside the home should be made only for very good reason such as a medical review. For everyone to stay safe, you need to stay in.

simon.attard-montalto@gov.mt

Simon Attard Montalto, Head, Department of Paediatrics, Medical School

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.