Here’s a Sunday morning riddle. When on March 20 there were 11 cases of COVID-19, we were told to stay at home and only venture out for bare necessities. When on May 16, two months on, there were 14 cases of COVID-19, the next day, the Prime Minister went on Super One, laughed that scoffing laugh of his, and told us to go out and eat in restaurants.

It’s a baffling puzzle – which seemingly, can only be solved by making the nation watch a propaganda video straight out of the Office of Joseph Muscat.

It’s called Our Heroes Thank Us, with a script referring to the pandemic in the past tense. And it’s the usual Muscat-production storyboard: aerial views of the Tritons fountain, Castille, and what not lighting up, as the drone flies past.

Then, healthcare workers are superimposed on the bastions of Valletta, reciting lines and using hand gestures in manner of the Christmas priedka tat-tifel, to tell us that, essentially, it’s all over.

A veritable piece of bullshit bunting if ever there was one. It’s still far from over – all our medics and all our healthcare workers are still there, facing daily double-digit cases and this video is an insult to their laudable work.

There is no endorsement by the Medical Association of Malta or by the Malta Association of Public Health Medicine, or by any of the frontline medics, come to that. Instead, the video wheels out Malta’s current national treasure, the Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci.

Oh, Prof. Gauci! How could you let yourself be used for a piece of pure hogwash? Your responsibility is to protect people’s health and not to play to the tune of the government’s shameless propaganda in an attempt to gloss over reality.

The prime minister thinks we are a nation of idiots and that we’ll ignore the number of rising cases and just heave a sigh of relief because he told us to do so. Well, here’s some news: the world is not the same it was pre-March 2020.

It’s still far from over – all our medics and all our healthcare workers are still there, facing daily double-digit cases and this video is an insult to their laudable work- Kristina Chetcuti

It is now tasteless and sheer ħamallaġni to commission costly staged videos at a time when people are being made redundant. This is what the prime minister should have told his main advisor, Joseph Muscat (how much are we paying him for this?)

Instead, Trump-like, the prime minister took the mike and trumpeted that Malta was the most successful country in the world in its battle with the virus. “In which country are there 90 cases? Nowhere,” he said. Erm, hello, in Europe alone, there are 18 other countries.

Clearly, we have another prime minister who does not check his facts. And this does not inspire confidence. Which is the crux of the matter here.

Our wallets, in case the prime minister has not noticed, are tightened; our priorities have changed. We won’t start spending when the prime minister tells us to. That’s not how it works. We start spending money when we feel safe to do so: healthwise and financially.

Of course, I understand that there needs to be a balance between people’s health and the economic recovery – but surely, as taxpayers, we ought to know the strategy of how this will be done. Yes, we are all eager for some semblance of normal life, but for crying out loud, explain to us and give us a proper plan.

I am getting the awful feeling that we just spent 10 weeks inside for nothing. If it’s okay to go socialise now, why didn’t we wear masks in March and go about our business as usual then? Why on earth didn’t we do a Sweden? What’s the difference between then and now?

No one can now blame us for being distrusting. Who on earth will want to go to a restaurant when we know that the merest droplet can transmit the virus? What if an asymptomatic cook touches my bowl of soup? What if I am asymptomatic? What if the person on the table next to me starts coughing?

Why is it that to go to my grocer round the corner, I have to wear a mask, but to go to an indoor restaurant with other people sitting at other tables, I don’t need to? And why is it that as a customer I don’t need to wear a mask, but the waiter will have to? Won’t that put the waiter at risk?

Of course, restaurant owners are worrying about the health of their staff and clients. And they’re also worried about the economics of it all. By removing tables to ensure social distancing, they could just about guarantee a safe distance between diners but would then struggle to cover the running costs.

When a journalist asked Gauci if she recommends going to restaurants, she hummed and hawed and fluffed and huffed. She clearly wanted to say an outright no. Is someone holding a gun to her head?

Why is it that Malta is not following the model of many other EU countries, where seated service in restaurants and cafés will only be opened in mid-June?

All other countries have opened parks so that people can go for strolls close to their homes to boost their mental health. Here, free-of-charge parks remain closed, but we’re encouraged to go to indoor spaces in restaurants. Go figure.

Whatever plan the prime minister has in mind, we need to be told of it – because we are the ones who can make it a success. Meanwhile he must drop that scoffing laugh and give out the right verbal and non-verbal cues.

If he manages to inspire some sort of confidence, maybe the tragic economic blow won’t hit us so hard.

krischetcuti@gmail.com

twitter: @krischetcuti