Freed from lockdown

The author is the founder and owner of JOB Search- jobsearch.mt

So the 1 July seems to be the date when we the people are freed from most of the public health restrictions introduced in the recent past; we regain our liberties. Alleluia ! 

I have stated from day-one that a lockdown per se is draconian, medieval and ill-suited. 

To be fair, I think Malta did a good job in imposing a soft type of lockdown which effectively introduced a qualified set of restrictions which were based on pragmatism. 

My only concern is that throughout this COVID-19 pandemic, the medical experts constantly gave the impression that politicians were constantly diluting their recommended list of demands and they injected a heightened sense of fear in the Maltese population. 

Just this week, after the Prime Minister announced the lifting of more public health restrictions, we had The Malta College of Pathologists warning us that we were as a country dangerously entering a ‘false sense of security’ and that a ‘Second Wave’ is more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. 

Two weeks ago, when the government lifted the restrictions on restaurants and hairdressers, we had Virologist Chris Barbara telling us: ‘This virus is an opportunist. It will seize every opportunity we create for it to spread. The moment we lower our guard, it will spread with deadly consequences for those most at risk.’

He even went as far to say that ‘strictly [from] a medical point of view’ his advice as a virologist would have been not to reopen these activities. On the 21 May we were even told that the ‘second wave’ is with us! We were even told by the Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives that it was ‘madness’ to lift more measures. 

From my experience as an advisor and so called expert in my area of specialisation (business management, Strategy and HRM), ‘experts’ give advice but business leaders take decisions. Advisors should not stamp their fit and throw a fit, if and when the decision-taker opts to take a decision which balances your advice with that of other ‘experts’. In my line of work, it is normal for this to happen and I don’t go round throwing a fit or scaremongering the workers or middle management.

Therefore, my advice to all experts advising the Government is to behave appropriately. The expert advises the decision-maker, without any strings attached; put another way, the decision-maker who ultimately carries the responsibility, has to be free to take decision as he/she deems best without fear of being scolded publicly by one set of experts. This is simply not on and highly unprofessional. 

Look here is my take on this whole COVID-19 story. The international media blew this ‘novel virus’

out of proportion way back in March and when it didn’t have all the facts at hand. We were made to focus on a narrow skewed narrative and ignored the big picture. As a result governments across the world panicked and implemented draconian and medieval measures. We let the doctors and medical experts dictate the headlines and the media fuelled the fear with images of people dying a horrible death. This created a global frenzy and irrational fear took hold of us and now it is going to be harder to restore public confidence and encourage people to return to ‘normal life’. 

We should instead have focused on the big picture and the pertinent facts. For instance, the world fatality rate is estimated to be in the region of 0.2%-0.6%. This puts the CVOID-19 virus in the range of a severe influenza (flu) and about ten times lower than originally assumed by the WHO. Moreover, 82% of persons who test positive are asymptomatic (symptom-free). It is calculated by experts that up to 50% of deaths may have been caused not by Covid19 but by the effects of the lockdown, panic and fear. There is also no scientific evidence for the effectiveness of face masks in healthy or asymptomatic individuals. On the contrary, experts warn that such masks interfere with normal breathing and may become ‘germ carriers’. I could continue but I won’t. 

My point is that now we have been freed from lockdown restrictions, let us please learn our lessons and not repeat the same mistakes again come next November when the influenza season starts. 

The key lessons are the following: 

1. The value of life for someone dying of untreated cancer or heart disease, or even mental health induced suicide, during a COVID-19 imposed lockdown is the same as someone dying from COVID-19; I would actually argue that a lot more people died from cancer, heart disease or suicide and yet we prioritised COVID-19 when we shouldn't have; every life is equal; 
2. The experts give advice to the decision-maker without any claims or rights on the final decision; the experts should also refrain from exerting media pressure on the decision-maker when the decision goes contrary to their advice; 
3. Social and economic impacts are just as important as public health impacts so when judging our decision-makers let’s appreciate that decisions factor in not just public health; 
4. Don’t believe everything you read! Some headlines are overly sensationalist and serve to promote an irrational fear; 
5. The counter-measures we take as a country must always be proportionate to the actual threat of the virus and not the perceived threat. 

Other than that, I hope you enjoy your summer and let's get back down to work. Freedom is beautiful.