Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1275149
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 AUGUST 2020 OPINION mental the role of enforceable regulations really proved, in the broader picture of Malta's suc- cess against COVID-19 to date. And… well, by now you will surely have worked out where all this is heading. 'Restrictions', 'emergency legislation', 'en- forcement', 'regulation'… these are all things that now seem totally absent from the same government's strategy, when it comes to planning for a sec- ond wave that may already have started. This brings me to the what is arguably the most surreal differ- ence between the same govern- ment's strategy today, and that of only four months ago (i.e., when we were, in Fearne's own words, 'successful'): the context. In early March, we seemed to have been able to – in the first instance – recognise the possi- bility of a crisis, even before it started happening in earnest. Perhaps more importantly, though, government was also willing to take drastic action in the face of that emergency: even just by transferring legal juris- diction to the health authorities, and agreeing to base its own health policies entirely on their recommendations. Today, on the other hand, we are facing a situation that (on paper, at any rate), appears to be much more volatile than an- ything we went through in the early phases of the crisis. In the space of just a few days, the total number of active cases has sky-rocketed from 'almost nothing' to 150… catapulting us right back to the scenario we were facing in early April (i.e., at the height of the 'first wave'). Unlike early April, however, this is also happening at a time when: a) the airport has been reo- pened to multiple destinations – including some of the worst- hit regions of Europe; b) Permits have been given for at least four major rave parties (or whatever they're called these days) of the kind which collec- tively tend to attract tens of thousands of party-goers from all sorts of countries; c) Government itself, through MTA, seems to be promoting said mass events; d) All the above-mentioned regulations have been either relaxed (eg., mask-wearing at supermarkets), or removed al- together, and; e) … without even entering the issue of how much of this recent spike is due to mass- event parties, or how much to large influxes of infected asy- lum-seekers… well, we all heard it straight from the Prime Min- ister's mouth, didn't we? Read his lips: 'no emergency'. Which also means no need for any new restrictive measures; and certainly no penalties or fines, either. Not only that: but he even told us that Malta is, and will contin- ue to be, 'open for business as usual'… even though, just a few months ago, the same Prime Minister had practically pulled the plug on the entire economy, at the very first hint of a possible epidemic. I don't know… it's almost as though there was some kind of election in the meantime; and the government which proved so successful in handling the crisis last March, has somehow been replaced by an identical – albeit very different - clone of itself, while none of us were pay- ing attention. It might look the same; dress the same; act the same… yet suddenly, it seems to be pursu- ing not just a totally different public health strategy… but al- most the clean opposite of all its own former policies. You know: the ones that actu- ally worked… And this, I suppose, is perhaps the most bizarre aspect of this entire transformation act: they still remain utterly convinced that it is possible to achieve the same successful solution to the same problem… only using a di- ametrically-opposed strategy. But in any case: I can only hope, for all our own sakes, that they're the ones who've got it right, in spite of everything… while everyone else – the doc- tors, nurses, virologists, epi- demiologists, etc. (but not, of course, around four party-or- ganisers, and maybe a couple of DJs) – is getting it all wrong… In the space of just a few days, the total number of active cases has sky- rocketed from 'almost nothing' to 150… catapulting us right back to the scenario we were facing in early April xxxx