Propaganda vs. public safety

Tuesday, 3 August 2021 03:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A decision by the authorities to lift inter-provincial travel restrictions and resume public services in full this week is shocking considering new data on COVID-19 deaths and infections released by the Health Ministry. Last week, 250 people died from coronavirus, as the deadly Delta variant sweeps across the island. COVID-19 infections per day are back up at 2000 plus, while testing remains woefully inadequate with the virus spreading at lightning speed through the community.

The Government’s decision to allow travel between the provinces (a restriction that was barely enforced even when it was in effect), and the simultaneous resumption of public services across the state sector will bring tens of thousands of commuters to urban centres via overcrowded modes of public transport, virtually guaranteeing a spike in infections in the weeks ahead.

Nearly 25,000 people are being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals, which are reaching capacity for patients suffering from respiratory complications from the virus. Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 death toll is 4,436 – citizens who have paid the highest price of the Government’s terrible mismanagement of the public health crisis affecting the world.

The glimmer of hope on the horizon lies in the delivery of vaccines by substantial numbers. The USA donated 1.5 million doses of the mRNA vaccine Moderna last month, while Japan’s generosity delivered 728,000 doses of the vital AstraZeneca vaccine last Saturday. The AZ delivery was much anticipated with hundreds of thousands of citizens still awaiting their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine after obtaining their first dose in February and March this year.

Most people in the Western Province who received the first dose of Astra Zeneca are way past the 16-week optimum efficacy window by which they should have received the second jab. The Government’s bungling on the procurement and delivery of life-saving vaccines has been costly. But now the shots have begun to come in by large enough numbers to keep the inoculation drive ticking, with health authorities finally focused on getting as many shots in arms as possible within the course of a single day.

A Government that was less preoccupied with propaganda and more concerned with public health and safety and preventing further loss of life, would have done its part to help the process along. A few more weeks of semi-lockdown and strict restrictions on gathering and a slow phased reopening of public services and inter-regional travel, would have allowed the vaccination efforts to catch up and slow the spread of the virus. Instead, the Government is ploughing through with “restoring normalcy” even as infection rates and death rates spiral dangerously before enough people are vaccinated. In turn, this strategy will overwhelm the hospital systems, and almost inevitably lead to another massive wave of infections that will lead to yet another lockdown a few months down the line.

Persistently making the wrong decisions in the middle of a global pandemic has become the Government’s trademark. Even now, when one State sector is pulling out all stops to get something right with vaccination, in another, political imperatives continue to outweigh public health and safety. It is a tragedy waiting in the wings, one that is eminently visible to the naked eye, that will lead to more sickness and death in the days to come.